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PENTECOST 



IN 



PKACTICAL LIFE. 



BY 



v 

RET. CHARLES P. MASDEN, D. D. 




, 




PHILADELPHIA: 

NATIONAL PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
PROMOTION OF HOLINESS. 

1887. 






Copyright Secured, 1887. 

The Library 
Ob Congress 

WASHINGTON 



PEEFAOE. 



The chapters which compose this volume, were first writ- 
ten as newspaper articles for the Christian Standard 
and "Guide to Holiness" and other periodicals. The 
Author received frequent letters from different parts of 
the country, thanking him for the instruction and comfort 
afforded by these articles; and, many personal friends also 
have suggested the advisability of putting them in book- 
form. Consequently, this volume has been given to the 
Christian Church. It is not designed as a treatise or 
doctrinal discussion of the subject of Holiness, but simply 
as suggestions to those seeking the mind of God, and 
endeavoring to lead holy lives. 

The practical side of the question has been made 
prominent, and those who have entered into the experi- 
ence of entire sanctification will find, I trust, some guides 
and helps in the chapters of this book, which I place 
upon the altar of consecration to God's service. 

Yours, 

C. P. Masden. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEK I. 

PAGE 

Theories of Holiness — Their Differentiation 
and Harmonization, . 9 

CHAPTEK II. 
The Power and Province of Consecration, . . 21 

CHAPTEK III. 
Relation of Purity to Maturity, 29 

CHAPTEK IV. 
The Baptism of Fire, 39 

CHAPTEK V. 
Filled with the Holy Ghost, 49 

CHAPTEK VI. 

Profession of . Holiness, . . . . ... . . ,. . , . 57 

5 



6 CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

CHAPTER VII. 
Death of Self and Life of Faith, 65 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Growth in the Sanctified Life, 85 

CHAPTER IX. 
Goodness, 95 

CHAPTER X. 
Soul Rest, 105 

CHAPTER XL 
The Saint in the World, 119 

CHAPTER XII. 
Kept in Perfect Peace, 127 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Cheerfulness, 135 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Lifting Up a Standard for the People, . . .153 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 



^Esthetics in Religion; or, Beauties of Holi- 
ness, 169 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Songs in the Night; or, Triumph in Trouble, 187 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Glory of Saving Men, 205 



CHAPTER I. 



"Be ye holy, for I am holy."— 1 Peter i : 16. 

" 'Tis done ! thou dost this moment save, 
With full salvation bless ; 
Redemption through thy blood I have 
And spotless love and peace," 

—Charles Wesley, 

"The greatest saints who ever lived, whether under the 
Old or New Dispensation, are on a level which is quite 
within our reach. The same forces of the spiritual world 
which were at their command, and the exertion of which 
made them such spiritual heroes, are open to us also. If 
we had the same faith, the same liGpe, the same love which 
they exhibited, we would achieve marvels as great as those 
which they achieved. A word of prayer in our mouths 
would be as potent to call down the gracious dews and the 
melting fires of God's Spirit, as it was in Elijah's mouth to 
call down literal rain and fire, if we could only speak the 
word with that full assurance of faith, wherewith he said 
it." — Dr. Goulburn, Dean of Norwich. 



PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 



CHAPTER I. 



THEORIES OF HOLINESS— THEIR DIFFERENTIA- 
TION AND HARMONIZATION. 

AS to the necessity and final attainability 
of holiness there are no disputes among 
evangelical Christians. The only question of 
controversy is respecting the theories of holiness. 
The fact is admitted, but the doctrine or expla- 
nation of the fact varies. The point of divergence 
is in the time and manner of sanctification. 

As to the tirae, some contend we are sanctified 
at conversion ; others that we are not sanctified 
until death ; and others that we are sanctified by 
faith subsequent to conversion and before the 
dying hour; 

As to the manner of sanctification, some con- 
tend it is attainable by degrees and necessarily 
11 



12 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

gradual; others allege it is finally instantane- 
ous, even after the process of gradualism, and 
received as an act of faith in the fullness of the 
atonement ; and others that it is attainable any 
moment when the child of God claims it by 
absolute self-surrender and faith. 

In view of these differences of opinion among 
evangelical Christians as to the time and man- 
ner of sanctification, I desire to state in brief 
formulae the principal theories of holiness and 
show their differentiation and harmonization, 
and their accord with the word of God and 
human experience. 

I. The Zinzendorf Theory. — Count Zin- 
zendorf, the founder and first bishop of the 
Moravian Church, held the theory that regen- 
eration and sanctification were co-etaneous. He 
says: "We are sanctified wholly the moment we 
are justified and neither more or less holy to the 
day of- death." This dogma was the occasion 
of Mr. Wesley's separation from the Moravians, 
and called forth that sermon of his on "Sin in 
Believers." 

The Romanists hold a kindred theory, that 
nothing of the nature of sin remains after bap- 
tism and union with the body of Christ; and 



THEORIES OF HOLINESS. 13 

on this they base their doctrine of the merit of 
works, or works of supererogation. 

There are a few persons in our day who 
claim such perfection for regeneration, that there 
is never needed any cleansing process in the soul 
after conversion — that the only thing to do is to 
grow and develop the new life. 

The logical outcome of this theory would be : 

1. A contradiction of the universal conscious- 
ness of the regenerated, who know they have 
inbred sin after conversion. 

2. It would involve a profession of holiness 
with every regenerated soul — to profess religion 
would be to profess holiness, and not to profess 
holiness would be an equivalent to a non-profes- 
sion of religion. 

3. It would render that large class of Scrip- 
tural passages in the form of commands, exhorta- 
tions and promises, to the children of God "to 
cleanse themselves" and "to be holy," an 
absurdity. 

4. It would fill the Church with members 
who have been deceived as to their conversion ; 
or, entire sanctification is a very low state of 
grace. 



14 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

II. The Dying Grace Theory.— That we 
are not sanctified until we die. Then God in 
sovereign righteousness cuts the work short. As 
long as we are in the body it is impossible to 
be holy. 

The logical outcome of this theory would be : 

1. It would make the body the seat of sin 
and revive that old exploded philosophy that 
matter is necessarily evil. 

2. It would make death a necessary agent in 
man's redemption from sin and thereby detract 
from the pow T er of the atonement, making the 
work of death supplement its failures. 

3. It would annul the force of all those Scrip- 
tural passages which make holiness a means to 
an end, and connect it with subsequent acts and 
habits to be exhibited by the believer during life 
and before death. 

4. It would argue the possibility of an in- 
stantaneous sanctification. If instantaneous at 
last, in the dying hour, why not now in the 
living hour? If a sovereign act of God when 
man dies, the continuance in sin might be 
chargeable upon God — hence man has a part to 
perform. 



THEORIES OF HOLINESS. 15 

If faith on the part of man is a condition, 
and the atonement the agent of sanctification, 
we can leave death out of the process, and come 
to the cleansing fountain. 

III. The Repressive Theory. — The 
spiritual life in the ascendancy, keeping sin 
in subjection. A chained captive, who if not 
starved and wounded occasionally, will become 
so strong as to burst the bars and snap the 
chains and turn jailor himself and imprison all 
his former keepers. 

The logical outcome of this theory would be: 

1. To limit the power of grace. If sin can 
subdue why not destroy? Can there not be 
sovereignty or supremacy in the realm of the 
spirit which would reduce the antagonism to 
nonentity or practical death? 

2. It concentrates all watchfulness and power 
of the spirit-life upon this chained and subdued 
culprit, the lower nature. This is a waste of 
time and energy. Slay the enemy within and 
let the guards perform active duty. Instead of 
watching a prisoner, they can sow the fields and 
reap the harvests. 

3. It can never bring a sense of safety, with 



16 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL, LIFE. 

an evil ally in the heart, who needs constant 
watching ; he might open the gates to the out- 
side foe, hence there can be no repose. 

IY. The Growth Theory, or Gradu- 
alism.— It holds that time is an essential ele- 
ment, and that by development of the spiritual 
life, eventually the remains of sin will be de- 
stroyed. That man can and generally does slay 
these inner foes one by one; and, at last, per- 
haps unconsciously and without any marked 
transition, he comes into an entirely sanctified 
life. There is a subtle fallacy mixed up with 
some truth in this theory. 

Of course, all dying unto sin and growth in 
grace bring us nearer and nearer this point of 
entire holiness, and are not inconsistent with a 
more instantaneous work. Gradualism, ranging 
toward this point, is to be encouraged, and may 
be the preliminary preparation for the final act 
of faith which completes the work. 

But as the theory is popularly held as antag- 
onizing an instantaneous work, there are some 
dangerous results. 

1. Gradualism as a necessity postpones and 
delays the work of sanctification. How grad- 
ual? With what rapidity may we be sanctified? 



THEORIES OF HOLINESS. 17 

Is time a necessary factor in the work? Is not 
gradualism an excuse for slowness — delay — 
unbelief? Does it not turn us away from the 
cleansing fountain and encourage delay? 

2. The tendency of gradualism is to make 
growth a necessary condition of sanctification, 
when in fact and according to the Scriptures, 
sanctification must precede true progress in 
spirituality and usefulness. Sanctification is a 
condition of growth — the removal of the hin- 
drances to growth — and not growth as a neces- 
sary condition of sanctification. It is reversing 
God's order. 

3. It would make the death of sin depend on 
the vitality and growth of the spiritual nature 
when the Bible and experience both, place the 
death of sin first. The development of the new 
life is in ratio to the death of the old. The 
death of sin is placed first. 

V. The Faith Theory; or, Instantane- 
ous Sanctification. — Notwithstanding the 
repressive power of the spirit-life, the growth 
of the divine principle, and the gradual approach 
toward the realization of entire sanctification as 
preliminary, though not necessary operations, 

we hold that there comes a point, somewhere 
2 



18 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

between conversion and the dying hour, when 
the Christian is wholly sanctified, and that faith 
determines that point. It may be one minute 
before dying — it may be one minute after con- 
version — it may be now. In the nature of 
things, and according to the word of God, it 
must be before dying and after conversion, and 
by a special act of faith in the fullness and 
cleansing power of the atonement. If by faith 
it may be now. 

The mode of its accomplishment may vary 
according to the education, temperament and 
light of the Christian. The special manifesta- 
tions of the blessing and power may be different 
with different individuals — the time of the transi- 
tion may not be so marked and definite in all 
cases — but the fact of the transition, and the 
accomplished work, is a matter of consciousness 
and experience, demonstrated by the subsequent 
holy life. 

These are the leading theories among evan- 
gelical Christians on this subject. They more 
or less blend and have points in common, yet 
differ in some essential features and authorize 
us to make these distinctions. 

The Faith Theory runs alongside of each 



THEORIES OF HOLINESS. 19 

of the others ; and at length towers above them, 
and we crown it as an experimental fact. The 
others come short of a real experience and life. 
The Faith Theory runs along with the others, 
until they reach the clouds. There they stop, 
but faith penetrates the clouds and finds the 
sunshine of an accomplished fact in the experi- 
ence of the believer. The Faith Theory can- 
not be left out. If so, there is a want in the 
other theories. But you can tear down these 
other shorter columns and leave this one, and, 
like a shaft of gold, it rests its foot on the cross, 
and has its apex above the stars, crowned with 
a diadem of glory. 

It comes to your Zinzendorf Theory and tells 
the regenerated soul, who is conscious of inbred 
sin, though compelled by its logic to profess 
holiness — " there is nothing to hinder you from 
another plunge into the cleansing stream; in 
fact you had better stay under the blood." 

To the Dying Grace Theory it says: "You 
may have living grace, and that is better still. 
You may have the advantage of this grace in 
the trials and toils of human life, a power for 
good while living, and a pillow of peace when 
dying." 



20 PENTECOST IN PKACTICAL LIFE. 

To the Repressive Theory it says: "I will 
exterminate the foes and slay the body of sin; 
then your guards which have done nothing but 
watch the old prisoner, may go forth and sow 
fields and gather harvests." 

To the Gradual Theory it says, "For forty 
long years you have been going in a circuitous 
route, often in sight of the promised land of 
perfect love and rest, why not go up at once and 
possess the land, for ye are well able? The 
wilderness life need not be so long. Canaan is 
near. Only the narrow Jordan of unbelief 
rolls between. 

" O, that I might at once go up, 
No more on this side Jordan stop, 

But now the land possess ; 
This moment end my legal years, 
Sorrow and sin and doubts and fears, 
A howling wilderness." 



CHAPTEE II. 

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of 
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
And be not conformed to this world : but be ye transformed 
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is 
that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." — 
Romans xii : 1 and 2. 

" Jesus, Saviour, Thou art mine ; 
Jesus, all I have is Thine ; 
Never shall the altar fire, 
Kindled on my heart, expire. 
Love my darkness shall illume, 
Love shall all my sins consume ; 
Sweetly then I die to prove 
An eternity of love." 

— Benjamin Gough. 

When the rising sun fell on Memnon's statue it awaked 
music in the breast of stone. So the soul of man is active 
and joyful when touched by the rays of the Sun of Right- 
eousness. Entire consecration to God, is common moral 
honesty. 



21 



CHAPTER II. 

THE POWER AND PROVINCE OF CONSECRATION. 

ENTIRE consecration to God as a condition 
to entire sanctification, of course, is a mental 
process, involving an honest calculation of all 
our talents and powers and opportunities, also 
resolving to use all for God's glory, and a full 
surrender of the will to the will of God. While 
it is an immediate act and complete in itself, it 
also has a prospective character, including not 
only what we are, but what we may be; not 
only what we have, but also the added powers 
and gifts of the future. We calculate all this, 
and with one wholesale act dedicate our all to 
God. The consecration, item by item, in a 
practical form is the work of the after life. We 
consecrate all our 'fame — that is, we resolve — we 
will to do it. We mean it, yet we can only con- 
secrate moment by moment, as they come and 
go. We consecrate our talents, yet in reality 
this is only done when we use them for practical 
23 



24 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

purposes. So then this question arises, what is 
that entire consecration as a single act, as the 
condition of sanctifying power? Is it merely 
mental, intentional, and volitional f Is it simply 
the conscious giving of all in the present, and 
according to our light, to God ? If it has a 
reference to the future and practical form, can it 
be entire and complete® These are the honest 
inquiries of the soul in such a crisis, and seek- 
ing the baptism of Divine power. I can only 
answer for myself, which I trust may help some 
other soul. Consecration is not solely a 
human process. It involves more than a 
mental process. While there are human ele- 
ments and mental operations in it, there are also 
Divine aids. 

1. There will be increased spiritual illum- 
ination, and under this intense light the horizon 
of vision is extended and the possibilities of 
the life enlarged, and we take into the account 
the details and minutiae y which otherwise would 
be unnoticed. The scope of the consecration 
is enlarged by this spiritual illumination. The 
consecration of the sinner coming to Christ 
for pardon is simply the surrender of the rebel ; 
the consecration of the regenerated soul is the 



POWER AND PROVINCE OF CONSECRATION. 25 

service of a loyal subject. There is manifestly 
a difference. So, when the seeking soul comes 
to God after the sanctifying power, there is 
an enlarged scope given to the consecration— 
the unfolding of the possibilities of the child 
of God as well as the revelation of hidden 
defects and sins by the Holy Spirit. The first 
step is to pray for the conviction of need, which 
the Holy Spirit creates by this Divine illumi- 
nation. 

2. Having thus realized the scope of our 
need and possibilities — the next thing is the 
transfer to God — placing everything at His 
disposal, making Him our trustee. This full 
assignment of all to God's keeping, necessarily 
has in it elements of faith — confidence in God. 
The faith ought to be commensurate with the 
need, and in the present Hence, in the giving 
over to God our all, there is more than the assent 
of the will — there is a perfect and absolute 
abandonment to God. Here is certainly a Di- 
vine power. Here is supernatural aid to faith. 
The Holy Spirit must be in this act of transfer. 
Many intend to do this, imagine they have done 
this, and upon close examination they find some 
reserve, some hesitancy, some defect in the 



26 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

transfer — they did not call the Holy Ghost to 
witness the act. The definite consciousness that 
I have given everything to God, is the necessary 
precursor of absolute trust. 

3. There must be also some definite re- 
sponse coming back from God that my offering 
is accepted. My consciousness of complete con- 
secration, the subjective testimony is not enough. 
The assurance of His word may help my intel- 
lect. I may logically say on the authority of 
His word "my offering is accepted." But I 
must feel it. I must know it. I must be assured 
of it. I must have the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost upon it. The fire must fall upon the 
altar. The testimony of the Word and the 
Spirit and the Blood. 

"For there are three that bear record in 
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy 
Ghost, and there are three that bear witness in 
earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood. He 
that believeth on the Son of God hath the wit- 
ness in himself." 

Without the baptism of the Holy Ghost, our 
consecration will lack the altar fire. It will 
not be a potent fact in our lives, a living and 
constant experience in the life. We must not 



POWER AND PROVINCE OF CONSECRATION. 27 

stop short of the Divine seal upon our covenant, 
the stamp of Divine power upon our offering, 
the sanctifying of the Holy Ghost. The Divine 
must not be separated from the human. Co- 
operation is the Bible process of salvation. 



CHAPTER III. 

"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." 

—Matt, v : 8. 

■ He that will work for other's good 
Must be himself renewed ; 
So, before all things, thou must try 
Thyself to purify." 

— Tholuck. 

" I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within." 

— Socrates. 

" The chaste mind, like a polished flame, may admit foul 
thoughts, without receiving their tincture." — Sterne. 

"When one who holds communion with the skies 
Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise, 
And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
Tis e'en as if an angel shook his wings ; 
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide 
And tells us whence their treasures are supplied." 



CHAPTER III. 

RELATION OF PURITY TO MATURITY. 

AN unhealthy organism cannot reach the 
fullest, highest development. Hence, 
Spiritual vitality is an essential as well as proper 
ideal of growth and favorable environments. 
A great many modern Christians talk of 
growth, and culture, and maturity, when they 
are worldly, and selfish, and proud, and in the 
midst of a terrible battle with their own car- 
nality and inbred sin. They grow as rapidly 
in these worldly affinities and sinful tendencies 
as they do in holiness — in fact, the progress in 
spirituality and real victory of soul is not dis- 
cernible to their friends, or a matter of con- 
sciousness with themselves. They are the same 
old struggling and plodding Christians they 
were years ago, if not even less zealous and 
lovely. In the church are many such persons, 
who advocate growth and ignore the experience 
of entire sanctification. The ratio of growth is 
31 



32 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

very small. God may see it, but man cannot. 
Are they any more benevolent, and do they give 
more to the cause of Christ ? With their in- 
creased wealth, have they increased the percent- 
age of their gifts to the Lord's treasury ? Are 
they more forgiving, and kind, and sweet as 
they near the Jordan? Can they endure trials 
and persecutions like one who is soon to embark 
for glory? Do they seem ripe for the angel 
reapers? Have they thus grown until they 
stand like Christ among men, and make them 
hungry for a better life ? Alas ! this is not the 
general result of those who try the process of 
self-training and outgrowing the evil tendencies 
of the soul, and who do not see the necessity of 
the constant cleansing of the blood of Christ. 

Turn away from the cleansing fountain, and 
you can never get rid of the hindrances to 
growth. Sin is cleansed, not outgrown. The 
remains of depravity must be removed from the 
soul by faith in the atonement and not sup- 
planted by the growth of a new nature. In 
fact, the weeds will choke the growth of the 
wheat. The remains of the carnal mind will 
hinder the development of the spiritual nature. 
The energies which should be spent in working 



EELATION OF PURITY TO MATURITY. 33 

for Christ are used in watching, and chaining, 
and keeping the old self subdued and in prison ; 
when he ought to be slain and buried, and then 
these guards could do active duty for God and 
humanity. The soul is exhausted in this dread- 
ful struggle with itself. The inner poverty and 
emptiness have no overflowing streams for the 
thirsty souls of others. Self-environed and 
self-absorbed, they do not move as a living 
force, an inspiration and courage to their fellow- 
men. They need the cleansing of the blood of 
Christ, and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost 
which always follows, and then they will grow. 
Having the hindrances removed, and the vital 
force of the spiritual organism increased by this 
Holy Ghost power, they will grow naturally 
and symmetrically from within and not be an 
accretion from without. 

Dr. Drummond tells us there is a vast differ- 
ence between the growth of a crystal, which is 
an accretion, and the growth of an organism, 
which is a vital act. The one is dead and 
increased by accretion; the other is alive and 
grows by its own vital action. So, there is a 
difference in the growth of a partially sanctified 
soul, whose energies are spent in fighting the 
3 



34 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

inward foes of the heart, and the entirely sanc- 
tified, who become externally aggressive, having 
all the inward foes cast out. Troy stood ten 
years' besieging from without ; but a few Greek 
soldiers, concealed within the prodigious horse, 
which the Greeks made and which the Trojans 
captured as a prize and took within the city's 
gates, opened the gates of Troy to the Greek 
army, and Troy fell. Traitors within the heart 
are more to be dreaded than the foes without. 
If selfishness, or pride, or covetousness do not 
open the gate and let the world into your heart ; 
if they have no hospitality or place in your 
soul, then you will be a strong and safe warrior 
in the conflict with external foes. Our defeats 
come from the inward foes, and our failures 
from inner weakness. If the heart is clean, and 
no traitorous affections or unholy desires within 
it, the Devil and the world may do their best in 
bombarding from without. 

The point of failure is the cleansing of the 
heart — is inner purity — purity of thought, mo- 
tive and affection. When this is a fact and an 
experience, the growth will be natural, easy and 
beautiful, and the soul will be victorious on 
every battle-field. The life-force within can 



KELATION OF PURITY TO MATURITY. 35 

utilize all external agencies, and make them its 
servants. Circumstances, trials, temptations, 
everything will be made tributary to the soul's 
growth, and will not be weights to sink us, but 
wings on which we shall mount into clear skies. 

Therefore, don't let us get growth in the wrong 
place, and make it a condition of our cleansing 
instead of a result of our entire sanctification. 
The growth of the new nature in Christ Jesus, 
must follow the death of the old nature. This is 
the way the Scriptures always place it. Cruci- 
fixion first, then the resurrection. " Reckon 
yourselves dead indeed unto sin and alive unto 
God." The death of the old nature is not occa- 
sioned by the growth of the new nature in 
Christ Jesus, but by the process of crucifixion, 
by nailing to the cross, dying unto self; in a 
word, its only remedy is the atonement 

The death of sin and self is not the popular 
theology of these refined and comfort-seeking 
times. The emptying process is humiliating ; 
hence we go for filling up, and we fill up on top 
of sediment in the bottom of the vessel. The 
dying unto self is a terrible struggle ; so we go 
in for adorning the old man with the attributes 
of the new nature and endeavor to culture our 



36 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

carnality and refine it, and make it respectable 
and consistent with our spirituality. All this 
ignores the atonement, and is simply morality 
endeavoring to change its nature and become 
spirituality; making religion a fine art, and the 
Church an ethical school. This growth-theory 
or culture of the soul, which does not dig up 
the roots of evil, or seek cleansing in the blood 
of Christ, can only result in a miserable failure 
and come far short of fellowship with God and 
ultimate maturity in all the Christian graces. 

First, purity; then, growth; then, maturity; 
then, Heaven. Do not get the order reversed; 
for you get outside of God's plan and the Bible 
method of Christian transformation. Overcome 
thy inward foes, have thy heart made pure, wash 
in the cleansing fountain, and the scarlet sins 
will be made like wool and the crimson stains 
white as snow. Then, whole and sound, you 
will not be like a dwarfed plant or sickly 
child ; but grow like the lily, without effort 
and without artificial or forced means. 

This terrible struggle with one's self is an 
evidence of internal spiritual weakness, and 
argues the need of the full fountain to supply 
the streams of action. This lack of growth 



RELATION OF PURITY TO MATURITY. 37 

in the positive elements of the Christian life 
can be traced to the oppositions of the carnal 
nature which choke their development. The 
first great work is to be pure, to be holy; then 
you can grow without these drawbacks, and 
work without these disadvantages. O ye strug- 
gling souls! Why not come to Him who can 
cast out devils and heal maladies, and have 
thy soul cured, thy whole nature put under the 
power of the Holy Ghost, and know but one 
government ; no more a divided kingdom, with 
warring hordes and rebelling desires and traitor- 
ous affections, but Christ on the throne and the 
Supreme Ruler of thy entire manhood? 



CHAPTER IV. 

" But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost 
is come upon you ; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both 
in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the 
uttermost part of the earth." — Acts i: 8. 

"Refining fire, go through my heart, 
Illuminate my soul ; 
Scatter thy life through every part 
And sanctify the whole." 

— Charles Wesley. 

"You cannot mistake fire — was fire ever mistaken for 
anything else? It is fire that makes the difference between 
one man and another ; it is not intelligence ; it is not the 
mere use of words. The most copious speakers I have 
ever heard in my life have been to me the most inane and 
pointless. What was wanted? Fire. Who can despise 
it? None. Who can feel it? All. God's fire in a man 
cannot be easily put out and there will be no mistaking it." 

— Joseph Parker. 



39 



CHAPTER IY. 

THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 

THERE is a power outside of ourselves we 
can utilize. There is superhuman help. 
It is not the mere incentive of reward. It is 
not the excitement of a contest. It is not the 
inspiration of the poet or the orator; but a 
power beyond all these — an Almighty Person. 
A will, an intelligence, a heart, a personality, 
and not a mere influence. 

An influence is something I must use, but a 
person with intelligence, and will-power, can use 
me. I must use the sunshine. I must appro- 
priate an influence. I am superior to either, 
but the Holy Ghost uses me, and my human 
character, and talent, and influence, are the 
smallest factors in the operation. Just here is a 
nice distinction, which has robbed some of us 
of many years of Christian usefulness, and 
accounts for our baffled and defeated plans. We 
have considered the Holy Ghost an influence, 
41 



42 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

which we could use, placing the sovereignty in 
us, instead of a Person using us, placing the 
sovereignty in God. There is a vast difference. 

We have gone out and tried to harness the 
power of God to our wishes, and plans, and 
schemes, and undertakings, and with self-will to 
run the machine with borrowed power, with the 
limitations of selfishness and ignorance — when 
we ought to have died to all our wishes and 
plans, and abandoned ourselves to God and let 
Him, according to His infinite wisdom and 
almighty pow r er, use us for His glory. 

Come, then, let us yield ourselves entirely to 
God. The divine element must dominate. God 
must take the reins and guide our conduct. 
The natural man has some ungoverned impulses 
and wild passions and uprisings of evil, which 
we can not govern. We have often tried to 
manage ourselves. We have asserted our will- 
power. We have put restraints upon our tem- 
per. We have tried our best to be moral and 
to do good. But the wild and furious steeds to 
our chariot, taking the bits in their teeth, have 
often run off with us and we had not the power 
to control them. Behind us, in the chariot, 
encircling us w r ith His arms, comes the Holy 



THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 43 

Spirit, and taking the lines in hand, controls 
our impetuous steeds. He does not take the 
fire out of them. He does not destroy them, 
but guides them and controls them. With this 
mighty Charioteer with us, we are safe. Natural 
propensities, and temper, and passion, become 
motive powers for good when sanctified and 
used by Divine grace. 

Without the Holy Spirit possessing you, you 
can never know the feeling of rest, have the 
consciousness of strength and victory, be able to 
move along the path of duty with natural ease 
and grace, and to use your faculties and gifts for 
the highest ends and purposes of life. 

Consequently, we not only need the Baptism 
of the Holy Ghost as a restraint on ourselves 
and to govern conduct; but our endowments 
and gifts will fail of usefulness also. We must 
have our intellects and emotions set on fire. 

It is not enough to govern passion and regu- 
late propensities, and control appetite and lust, 
and to check anger and make the unruly ele- 
ments of human nature come into obedience to 
God's will; but our endowments, gifts, and fac- 
ulties, and talents, are also for a purpose. God 
intended them as agents of power — they are 



44 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

to be made intensely alive and practically useful. 
They need to be set on fire. 

They tell us, in modern times, that if the 
sermon were more artistic and scientific, after 
the best literary models — and if our ritual were 
more orderly and aesthetic, and the music of the 
highest order, and the architecture in keeping 
with cultivated taste, then we would draw 
around us the intelligent and refined, and the 
sanctuary would be a place of attraction. 

With God's book open before me, and the 
history of the Church behind me, I must 
pronounce such representations a delusion. 
Men must have in them spiritual life before 
they can relish spiritual service. Why paint 
landscapes for the blind, and spread banquets 
for the sick, and make melody for the deaf? 
This is the explanation for the distaste for re- 
ligious services. This is the reason why pews 
are empty. We call upon the dumb for a hymn 
of praise, and expect dead men to come to our 
banquets. The Holy Ghost must renew men's 
hearts, and give them the spiritual faculty and 
a taste for holiness, and a relish for prayer, and 
a delight in God. Then the Church w T ill be 
filled with true worshipers and hungry souls. 



THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 45 

A man dies and leaves a vast estate. The 
heirs named in the will do not send for the 
world's champion elocutionist to read to them 
the will. An old, cracked, screechy voice will 
do. They do not criticise the grammar, or find 
fault with the reading; but each is intent on 
hearing his name and the amount of his legacy. 
So, if men were as anxious to hear about God, 
and know if their titles in heaven were clear, 
they would care less about ritual, sermon and 
music. The Bible becomes a new Bible when 
spiritually interpreted, and the Church the house 
of God when the soul holds converse with 
Him. There is a special talent, an intensity 
and clearness of perception into spiritual things 
with Christians which is altogether unattainable 
by men who read common books with common 
eyes. Hence, yfhat our worship and our activi- 
ties need is fire — the inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost. This, then, is the supreme question of 
the modern Church, with its educated ministers, 
and costly edifices and trained choirs, and exten- 
sive literature, and abundant wealth, to ask, 
"Have we received the Holy Ghost ?" Dr. 
Joseph Parker says, "The question does not 
admit of hesitation as to its answer. No man 



46 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

can mistake the summer sun when he sees it : 
he will not come home with a half tale of 
having seen some kind of light, but is not quite 
sure w r hat it was or whence it shone; whether it 
was a gas jet, or an electric light, or a new star. 
The sun needs no introduction, has no signature 
but its own glory, and needs take no oath in 
proof of its identity. The shadows know it 
and flee away. The flowers know it and open 
their hearts to its blessing. The hills know it 
and the valleys know it and quiver with new 
joy." So, w r hen the Holy Spirit comes into a 
soul, He is His own witness, and man knows it. 
The family at home see the sweetness and smell 
the fragrance of the new character and they 
know it. The Church sees the clear lustre of 
heavenly testimony and feels the warmth and 
glow of a full soul, and fellow Christians know 
that he hails from a balmy clime. The world 
finds his presence a rebuke to evil and a per- 
petual judgment day, and they know he belongs 
to the court of glory. 

Look for miracles when the Holy Ghost 
comes upon a Church. Dumb men will speak; 
the silent become eloquent; the timid brave; 
latent faculties and slumbering powers will 



THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 47 

come into action. Skeletons will put on flesh 
and become living men ; swords will clash and 
bugles sound, and a mighty host will rise up 
and swear allegiance to Christ and glory in the 
Cross alone. Oh ! May that blessed Holy 
Spirit come upon the Church, anointing the 
preacher so that messages will be sent from 
heaven, through him ; anointing the pew, so 
that there will be a relish for divine worship 
and liberty in religious work. 

" Come, Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire ! 
Let us Thine influence prove; 
Source of the old prophetic fire, 
Fountain of life and love ! " 



CHAPTER V. 

"Be filled with the Spirit."— Ephes. v: 18. 

" And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." 

—Acts iii : 4. 

"With me, I know, I feel Thou art ; 
But this cannot suffice, 
Unless Thou plantest in my heart 

A constant paradise. 
Come, O my God, Thyself reveal, 

Fill all this mighty void ; 

Thou only Thou my spirit fill, 

Come, O my God, my God." 

— Charles Wesley. 

As the rising tide fills the bays and rivers and creeks, 
and every pond within the scope of its high-water mark, 
so God's grace will fill every soul, who is in the right atti- 
tude before Him, and within the scope of consecration and 
faith when He reveals Himself to souls. — Masden. 



49 



CHAPTER Y. 

"FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST." 

IT is to be under Divine control; absolutely 
possessed of God ; the whole manhood gov- 
erned by the Presence of the Divine; no 
member of the body, no faculty of the mind, 
no element of character, no attribute of the 
soul, inoperative or under any counter motive; 
but all organized around the love of Christ and 
energized by the Holy Ghost. 

The possibility of such a government in 
thought and action cannot be questioned by 
those who admit a supreme motive, or master 
passion in life, or the tyranny of habit, or 
demoniacal possession. If man can be the slave 
of habit, ambition, the love of money, or sens- 
uality, why may he not be the instrument of the 
Holy Ghost f It is only a change of masters. 
The service may be as universal and absolute 
when given to God as when it is in the realm 
of Satan. Hence, I raise this important ques- 
51 



52 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

tion, only expressed in modern form, viz. : 
What is the method and extent of this Divine 
possession ? 

I. The Method. — God uniformly seeks the 
path of non-resistance in the spiritual. His 
grace flows through the best conductors. As 
electricity chooses the path, where there is the 
least resistance, so does God's power. Elec- 
tricity can rend rocks, tear up trees, cleave its 
way anywhere ; but it passes through the realm 
of the least opposition and through good con- 
ductors. So God's power can subdue rebellious 
wills, and soften the hardest hearts; but it is 
the Divine method to seek those who cease their 
rebellion and to go where He is welcomed. The 
humble, willing and teachable soul becomes 
God's chosen vessel of honor and power. 

But we have also a forward movement in t\\Q 
soul. We not only yield the will or submit 
and leave the gate op'en for the entry of the 
King of saints, but we have a susceptibility for 
the Divine. We call for God ; we crv after 
Him, like a child for its mother ; we seek Him ; 
we feel after Him like the tendrils of the vine 
do for a trellis. The moving cause or creative 
agency of these soul cravings may be the Holy 



FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 53 

Ghost. Still they are so under human control, 
and their operations are so under our conscious 
will, that we must conclude that co-operation, as 
well as non-resistance, becomes one of the con- 
ditions of Divine possession of the human. In 
this co-operation in salvation I recognize two 
elements: one is the appropriation of Divine 
power by man — the human laying hold of the 
Divine; the other is the Divine sanctifying and 
endowing and using the human. They may 
work together, but they are separate factors in 
this question of Divine presence and action in 
the human. To what extent I can command 
and use the Divine influence, and to what extent 
God can use me, are two different things. In 
the first instance the sovereignty is in man; in 
the second the sovereignty is in God. Hence, 
faith has respect to the will of God ; is not so 
much a subjective state as an objective power. 
The object of faith is important as well as the 
nature of the faith. "Have faith in God" The 
honor which God puts on faith is one of the 
wonders of Revelation. "According to your 
faith be it unto you." " If thou canst believe 
all things are possible to him that believeth." 
Hence, non-resistance and co-operation of faith 



54 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

are the Bible methods of the Divine possessing 
the human. 

II. The Extent of this Divine Posses- 
sion.— "Filled with the Holy Ghost." " Filled 
with all the fulness of God." It is Divine pos- 
session of the whole man, body, soul and spirit ; 
the Body, the temple of the Holy Ghost ; the 
"mind kept and garrisoned by the peace of 
God/' and the soul sanctified. Is this a matter 
of experience? Yes. God does not command 
the impossible. The Bible teaches it, and 
Christian experience confirms it. I know what 
it is, at times, to be full of God, and this is 
always the case when the contact on my part is 
perfect, when the consecration is entire and the 
faith definite. I have this experience this mo- 
ment, as I now write. Why not the next 
moment ? May not these moments touch each 
other and multiply into years, and finally fade 
away into eternity? 

The evidences of this Divine fulness are per- 
sonal consciousness, holy tendencies, ease and 
spontaneity in Christian work, symmetrical char- 
acter, Christlike dispositions, and oneness of 
government No clashing motives, no inward 
discord, no counter aifections, no rebellion of 



FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 55 

will, but one Ruler on the throne, Christ reign- 
ing supreme. The trend of the whole nature 
Godward, the power of the world broken, the 
soul plunges toward God, so that the tendency 
to fly off and go astray and forget God, is 
gone, and the moral gravitation is toward God 
and heaven. I bless God for this hallowed 
consciousness. 



CHAPTER VI. 

"Ye are witnesses and God also, how holily and justly 
and Unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that 
believe." — St. Paul. 

" To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." — 1 COR. i : 2. 

" Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, 
to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved 
in Jesus Christ." — Jude i: 1. 

"But ye are washed! but ye are sanctified." 

—1 Cor. vi: 11. 

" For He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are 
all of one."— Heb. ii: 11. 



°Tis done! Thou dost this moment save, 

With full salvation bless ; 
Redemption through Thy blood I have 

And spotless love and peace." 



57 



CHAPTER VI. 

PROFESSION OF HOLINESS. 

NO more important question is involved in 
the promotion of holiness than, What is 
the proper province of profession? That the 
experience ought to be professed by those who 
enjoy the blessings of its conscious power, under 
certain conditions and on proper occasions, no 
one can question. There is need of professing 
it even though the life should be an unmistaka- 
ble exponent of the doctrine ; for all persons 
will not interpret the life correctly and trace 
the holy living to its proper source. Besides, 
the world can only know of my religious con- 
sciousness, or the witness of the Holy Ghost 
to my soul, by my own testimony. They can 
see my example, judge of my actions, infer 
from my character whom I serve; but how 
can they know of my inner experience or 
spiritual consciousness unless I proclaim it? 
There are psychological reasons, as well as 
59 



60 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

scriptural authority, for verbal testimony in 
religion. 

We owe it to Christ who has so gloriously 
saved us, and to our fellow-men who are so 
needy of the same gracious healing. Since I 
have found the secret of salvation from sin, 
and have received the baptism of Pentecostal 
power, and have the witness of God to my 
entire sanctification, I would be ungrateful to 
my Sanctifier and untrue to men, if I did not 
make the fact known. 

But how, and when and where to make this 
profession, so as to have the most power for 
good, and therefore glorify Christ, is the all- 
important question. Hence, let us fairly and 
honestly inquire into the proper province of the 
profession of entire sanctification. 

First Profession is not to be made the su- 
preme test of the experience. Many have lost 
the evidence of this grace, because they failed 
to testify, and lowered the standard and tone of 
their testimony to suit the taste and pride of 
worldly professors of religion, and thereby were 
not true to God and conscience ; and of course, 
Satan came in, and their bright experience has 
been dulled and power decreased. 



PEOFESSION OF HOLINESS. 61 

But, on the other hand, don't let us suppose 
that if we habitually profess the experience, 
therefore we shall retain its power. For the 
profession may become a habit and a mere shib- 
boleth without the power of holiness in the 
character and the life; Profession might have 
been the supreme test in the days of persecu- 
tion, but not so now, when there is a kind of 
rivalry for piety and the patronizing tendency 
of the world is toward saintliness. When mar- 
tyrdom was the price of profession, it counted 
more than to-day when Christianity is fashion- 
able and profitable. Holy living is the supreme 
test. 

Second. While the profession of holiness 
ought to be made as a debt of gratitude to 
Christ, and as an expression of our spiritual 
consciousness, and as a help to our fellow-men 
who may be seeking like cleansing and anoint- 
ing, yet the manner in which it is done, or the 
spirit of the person and occasion, has much to 
do with its efficiency. Hence, as fair-minded 
and honest Christians, we ought to inquire into 
the spirit, manner and occasion of the profession. 

It ought not to be done in a defiant spirit, 
saying, in effect, "I am holy, and you half- 



62 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

hearted Christians will not believe me, but I 
must tell you the truth." This will evoke un- 
necessary criticism and opposition. Why assume 
that Christians are half-hearted and opposed to 
holiness? but be so in love with it yourself that 
you wonder why everybody don't come at once, 
as you did, to the cleansing blood and keeping 
power. So speak of the experience, that people 
will believe you are happy in the grace, and 
that you are not advertising for any patronage, 
or making yourself great by contrast with 
others. Never make your piety a pedestal on 
which to exhibit yourself. A superabundance 
of foliage may hinder the fruit from ripening; 
so, too much, or habitual profession, may weaken 
the force of your testimony and diminish your 
influence. Avoid making yourself a target, by 
calling the attention of people to your special 
pleading for your superior piety. Ostentation 
or bragging is in bad taste, and is so regarded 
by the thoughtful, whether it be about wealth, 
family, talents or religion. There is a modest 
and humble, yet positive way to speak of your 
religious experience, which will ever place the 
cross of Christ in front and crown Him the 
Perfect Saviour, and which will make others 



PROFESSION OF HOLINESS. 63 

hungry for a better life and Christ more desira- 
ble to them. When you come with the tender 
spirit, rejoicing in Christ for what He has done, 
calling attention to Him rather than to yourself, 
then your testimony will move other hearts and 
win others to the side of your blessed Saviour. 
There must be the impelling power of the Holy 
Spirit within you — the overflow of a pure soul 
speaking the truth in love — so that Christ will 
be manifestly precious to your soul and the joy 
of your life ; then others will desire to know the 
same fellowship. The danger is the habit of 
testifying in every meeting and not seeing to 
the higher and more important fact, that the 
Holy Spirit is moving you to speak, and that 
you have a message from God. Do not think 
you will brighten your experience by telling it; 
but get the power from the Holy Spirit and 
then tell it, because you desire to glorify Him. 
Do not tell your experience for the purpose of 
feeling happy. Get happy in God, and then tell 
the joy to magnify Him. Do not make the pro- 
fession a condition of obtaining a grace, but the 
fruit of what you already possess. Do not make 
it an outlet for your opinions or feelings, but an 
occasion to put another crown on the brow of 
Christ. Let self be lost and Christ be seen. 



CHAPTER VII. 

DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 

(Galatians ii : 20.) 

THIS text teaches us that there is an analogy 
between the historical facts of Christ's death 
and resurrection, and the processes of Christian 
experience in passing from sin unto Holiness. 
Hence, here is a " Crucifixion icith Christ" 
nevertheless a "life" or resurrection. Else- 
where we are said to be "buried with Hini" 
and "risen with Him." Therefore, you see I 
am within the intent of this passage when I 
call your attention to the Crucifixion Life, and 
Resurrection Life of the Believer — the Death of 
Self in Christ and the Life of Christ in us. But 
to be true to the text and to follow the exact 
language, I will call your attention to the pro- 
position contained therein, viz. : The Basis and 
Method of the Christian Life. 

I. The Basis of the Christian Life, 
viz. : The Atonement of Jesus Christ. " Who 
loved me and gave Himself for me." Without 
67 



68 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

this fact, I could have no Christian life at all. 
I would be dead. If I were to be justified 
by the works of the law I should have no 
hope of life. 

The Apostle in this chapter shows us clearly 
we are justified by faith in Christ, and not by 
the works of the law; and here in the text he 
lays the foundation of the Death of Self and 
Life of Faith, in the fact of Christ's Death for 
us. "Who loved me, etc." Here we have 
stated the motive and character of the 

ATONEMENT. 

1. The Motive. "Who loved me." Christ's 
love was the motive back of His incarnation. 
It was love that induced Him to lay aside the 
glory He had with the Father ; love clothed 
Him in human form; love laid Him in the 
manger; love nailed Him to the cross; love 
placed Him in the tomb ; love enthroned Him 
in heaven. Oh how He loved us ! When we 
see the condescension, the humble birth, the life 
of toil, the infinite sacrifice, the cruel treatment, 
the unjust trial, the betrayal, the scourging, the 
insults, the piercing, the crown of thorns and 
the death of the cross, that Jesus endured as an 
exhibition of His love for sinners, we are filled 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 69 

with amazement and compelled to say, Oh ! 
"how He loved us"! 

The Atonement is not merely a doctrine, but 
a history. It is a drama; it has action; it 
has parts ; it has personages ; it has place and 
scene. It is more than a romance, the courage 
and charm of a hero, delivering captives or 
achieving freedom. It is a fact, the climax of 
Divine Love, the supreme expression of the 
Father's regard for the human race, and for the 
individual. "Who loved me." 

How different is this idea of Deity from the 
materialistic view, the iron empire of mechani- 
cal immensity! Here is a heart, and a will and 
a Person — and the reign of law is colored with 
emotion and love brings into the laws of nature 
a new moral Governor and the system of things 
glows with new light, and the universe is no 
longer a grand machine, but a wisely governed 
empire, and human life no longer a grand illu- 
sion but a filial relation to the Supreme God 
and Father of us all. 

2. The Character of the Atonement — "Gave 
Himself for me." Here are two elements, viz. : 
Substitution and Voluntariness. 

There are some modern, so called, liberal 



70 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

theologians who have mistaken the object of 
their attack — they have attacked a pagan doc- 
trine of literal substitution and think they are 
attacking the Christian one. Vicarious punish- 
ment, where one man is guilty of a crime and 
another punished in his stead, paying the penalty 
by deputy, is cruel and barbarous. This has 
been the idea of human sacrifice among pagan 
nations, and this has given rise to the charge of 
injustice and immorality in the doctrine of the 
atonement. The substitution involved in the 
Scriptural doctrine of atonement is not a literal, 
but a moral substitution. It is one person suf- 
fering in behalf of another, for the sake of 
another, and because he loves the other. He 
takes the place and acts in the stead of another. 
He suffers that another may escape suffering. 
It is love substituting itself for another. This 
is quite a different thing from literal substitution 
of one person for another in punishment. Then 
add to this sublime idea of mediation or moral 
substitution, the fact of voluntariness — " He 
gave Himself" — and you remove the doctrine 
of atonement still further from pagan sacrifice. 
The fact that the victim is a self-offered one, 
takes away the question of injustice to the vie- 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 71 

tim. Christ having power to lay down His 
life, and to take it up again, did no injustice to 
Himself in accepting the penalty and in suffer- 
ing for the sake of those He loved, provided it 
was for a worthy object or important end. It 
was no foolish sentiment, or rash and daring act 
of a venturer — but for the salvation of the hu- 
man race and the diadem of Kingship in the 
Heavenly world. Primarily it was the eternal 
salvation of men, and saved men in turn will 
make Him eternal King. When you put these 
facts together, viz. : that love was the essence of 
the sacrifice, and that it was a substitution for 
us, and a willing and self-offered sacrifice, and 
for our supreme good, you can't help but see 
and appreciate this passage: "Who loved me 

and gave Himself for me" 

Herodotus tells us that when the victorious 
Cyrus was pushing his conquests toward India, 
the various princes of the country resisted him, 
and among them was one Tigranes, who was 
taken prisoner by Cyrus. In the evening of the 
day of battle, Cyrus, seated upon a throne in a 
large pavilion, received the captives and looked 
upon the trophies of his victory as they passed 
before him. At last came the royal family of 



72 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

Tigranes, consisting of himself and wife, father 
and mother. The royal conqueror asked Ti- 
granes with what he would redeem his father 
and mother, and he offered all his treasures, and 
they were released. Then said Cyrus to Ti- 
granes, " With what will you redeem your wife?" 
A look of horror passed over his manly face as 
he remembered that all was gone, and that he 
had nothing with which to redeem the wife of 
his love. He knew, according to Oriental usage, 
she was doomed, but, rousing himself, he said, 
" O, Cyrus, I will redeem her, I will die for her 
if you will restore her to liberty !" The heroic 
answer so affected the noble mind of Cyrus, he 
ordered the release of both of them. On the 
evening of the eventful day, as they were con- 
versing together on its wonderful scenes, Ti- 
granes turned to his wife and said, " Were you 
not impressed with the noble appearance of 
Cyrus ?" and she answered, "No; I was not 
looking to Cyrus; I was looking to the man who 
offered to redeem me with his life." What to 
her heart was the splendor of Cyrus and the 
glory of his throne, compared to her husband's 
love? The sublime devotion of her life to him 
who offered to die for her, now fills all her vision 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 73 

and absorbs her best thoughts and deeds. So 
the death of Christ for us wins our hearts and 
becomes the basis of our Christian characters 
and lives. Because of this fact we die to our- 
selves and live unto Christ. Because "Christ 
loved me and gave Himself for me," says Paul, 
"I die to myself, I am crucified with Him and 
nevertheless I live • yet not I, but Christ liveth 
in me." 

II. The Method of the Christian 
Life — viz. : Self-Crucifixion and a Life 
of Faith. There seems to be this twofold 
process or method. The old theologians used to 
call it mortification and vivification. There is 
this difference between a worldly and a Christian 
life: in the one, self is the centre, and everything 
is made to revolve around that. "My happi- 
ness, my interest, my success — how will this 
and that affect met" In the Christian life 
Christ is the centre, and everything revolves 
around Him. Christ's glory first. How will 
this and that affect the character and Kingdom 
of Christ among men ? What can I do to 
please Christ? This becomes the supreme mo- 
tive and master passion of the life. The unre- 
generate man's creed is "All of self and none 



74 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE, 

of Christ," but the creed of the Christian is 
"None of self and all of Christ." The point 
of conflict then is Self and Christ, as the 
governing principle and motive power of hu- 
man life. The conflict is not between the body 
and the spirit, as some imagine, and who think 
that holiness is impossible while in bodily condi- 
tions ; for Paul says, " the life I now live in the 
flesh is a life of faith in the Son of God." The 
old idea that matter is necessarily evil, and that 
the body must be tortured and do penance and 
be subjected to mortification, is not the thought 
of the Apostle in this text. He says, elsewhere, 
the " body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." 
We are also exhorted "to glorify God with our 
bodies and spirits, which are His." The laws of 
health and hygienic principles become Christian 
duties, and our bodies are to be kept in the best 
possible condition, so that we can do good ser- 
vice for Christ. So, then, despatch this error 
that self-crucifixion is bodily torture or physical 
suffering. The body is to be governed, not de- 
stroyed—kept under, restrained, used by the 
higher life, and thus preserved in its best possi- 
ble condition for service. Ungoverned appetite, 
lust and passion become destructive and are sure 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 75 

to wreck even physical manhood. Hence, in this 
age of luxury, voluptuousness, if not licentious- 
ness, we are not to give the reins to the lower 
nature and allow its attributes to run wild, and 
like fiery steeds dash oiF with rider and chariot, 
but they are to do the will of the governing 
principle. Our natural endowments are not to 
be destroyed but governed. There is not an 
element of our physical nature but what can 
glorify God when sanctified by grace and made 
the instrument of the spirit-life. The supreme 
question is, Who governs — self or Christ ? This 
determines the character. 

There is a vast difference between individu- 
ality and egotism, self-hood and selfishness. In- 
dividuality or self-hood must never die. The 
absorption of the soul in Deity, the oblivion of 
the individual in the progress of the race, or the 
immortality of posthumous influence in the 
world as a continued factor of civilization, in 
which the original actor will take no part and 
not even be conscious of its onward and outward 
movement, is not the Bible idea of personality 
and immortality. Hence, Paul says, "I am 
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live." 
Personality is not lost. But Paul tells us that 



76 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

this new self, which lives, is not the old self, 
which died. "I live, yet not I." It is Paul. 
I have not lost personality, but I have changed, 
go that I am a new self Myself, but made new. 
I have been melted by penitence and recast into 
Christ's mould. No longer the persecuting Saul, 
but the Apostle Paul. A new love has pos- 
sessed him. A new power governs him. He 
has organized his life around Christ as a centre. 
He has lost himself in the devotion and love 
of another. 

Therefore, I raise this question : What is 

SELF -DEATH, or SELF - CRUCIFIXION ? The 

term " crucifixion/' when applied to the spir- 
itual life, is significant. It refers to the struggle 
of the Adam life in us — the giving up process — 
the cutting oil indulged and evil habits — the 
dying of pride and selfishness, and ease and love 
of the world. This struggle with Christians is 
so intense, no term will better express the agony 
of the conflict, than "crucifixion" There are 
points of analogy to which I call your attention. 
1. It is a Painful Process. No Christian 
ever ascended from a lower to a higher plane of 
experience and life, without suffering in the 
lower nature. No one was ever truly humble 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 77 

who has not suffered the mortification of his 
pride. No one has ever known the certainties 
of hope w T ho has not battled with fears. No 
one has ever become generous who has not a 
thousand times stabbed his selfishness. Pain 
is the process of spiritual ascent. Peace the 
victory. No one ever came into the newness of 
life without the death throes of sin. Before the 
resurrection life there must be the crucifixion. 
This process is painful. 

2. Crucifixion is generally, though not neces- 
sarily, gradual. We generally slay our in- 
ward foes one by one. We do not in holy 
resolution nail ourselves to the cross with Christ, 
and thus determine to end the assertions of the 
old man. We do not come into the advantage 
of complete consecration at once. In fact we 
do not see the iniquity of sin and the scope of 
the Christian's privilege until we get under 
intense spiritual light. As the conscience 
becomes illuminated and sensitive, and the soul 
beholds the law's demands in its details and 
scope — then we begin to see the defects of con- 
duct and the hidden roots of evil in our natures 
— and at length we become convicted of the need 
of entire sanctification. This never comes in 



78 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

low conditions of spiritual life or in backslidden 
states — but as we are walking in the light we 
have new revelations of our inner weakness, 
and the power of the atonement. These two 
things always run parallel. Your view of sin 
will affect your view of atonement. When you 
see your need you are likely to seek the remedy. 
In order to see the depth of depravity, the 
remains and ruins of sin in your soul, you must 
enter into crucifixion with Christ, and then you 
will find buried roots of evil to be dug up, ex- 
travagances to be torn down, deficiencies to be 
made up — and as you grow in grace you will 
be ever making some new discoveries in this 
realm of self, which you will have to chain, 
imprison, strangle and crucify. 

3. Crucifixion is Finally Instantaneous. It 
may take a long time for self to die, but when 
at last we do die, it is in an instant. Paul 
speaks of this work as an accomplished fact 
with him. "I am crucified with Christ." The 
new version has it, " I have been crucified with 
Christ." "I have come into fellowship with 
Christ's death on the cross, through faith, so 
that what happened to Christ has also happened 
to me." I am so united to Christ's death — «o 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 79 

identified a with Christ," that my old self — 
self-will, self-seeking, self-interest, self-ease — 
self-glorification — is dead. The governing prin- 
ciple of life and character is changed. The old 
enemy, that caused so much trouble, mixing 
with our motives, intruding in our best actions, 
present on all occasions, even when ministering 
at the altar, and making itself prominent in 
all our deeds — is now hidden behind the cross. 
Self is not seen. Self does not assert its rights. 
Self does not appear in front. Self has died on 
the cross. Did you ever think what a sublime 
act this is? Man alone is the world's high- 
priest, who can offer himself to God. Man has 
the power to contemplate, to lay hold of him- 
self; he looks himself all over and sees him- 
self, and all that he is, in no sense his owm, 
but entirely and altogether existing in and by 
another. His whole self, body, passions, force, 
mind, will, soul, by the power of the spirit which 
is in him, he can present and offer to God as 
a living sacrifice. Hence, religion is primarily 
an act of homage, dedication and sacrifice. 

III. The Life of Faith.— "The life I 
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the 
Son of God." "I live in the flesh"— I simply 



80 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

dwell here. I don't live in the house for the 
house's sake, just to take care of and keep the 
house, making myself a slave to the house. I 
make the house my temporary abode, my con- 
venience. I am greater than the place I live iif. 
I am larger than my body. I am superior to 
my circumstances and surroundings. " I live in 
the flesh." Self is dead as a governing principle] 
yet I have bodily wants, instincts, passions, 
appetites, propensities, sensations. But they are 
under a new government and are the servitors 
of the spiritual life. The whole physical man- 
hood is made sacred to God — every element, 
even the lowest is made a worthy sacrifice, 
and can serve the noble purpose of God's 
glory. 

A life "in the flesh" is not necessarily sinful. 
Nay, God calls it sacred — a dedicated temple — 
devoted solely to sacred uses — working for God. 
The feet to walk for Him, the hands to work 
for Him, the eyes to see for Him, the tongue to 
speak for Him, the brain to think for Him, the 
heart to love Him and the soul to adore Him. 
Even appetite and lust, and passion, which lead 
to drunkenness, and sensuality and brutality, 
may be sanctified by the grace of God and made 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 81 

to serve the spiritual life under the supreme 
reign of the love of God. Appetite becoming 
the enjoyable means of life's support; lust the 
basis of family life and the most holy of all 
human affections ; and passion the fire and glow 
of religious zeal and enterprise, whereby the 
dying embers of formalism are kindled to a 

fervor and a flame 

This life in the flesh is a life of faith — " Christ 
lives in me" — governs me, controls every 
thought, affection, motive, passion, act. He is 
supreme. Everything bows to Him. My will 
is lost in His icill. We are one, and hence no 
discord. We live two lives. One in the flesh, 
dependent on physical conditions and limited by 
time and sense — the other, spiritual, related to 
God and Heaven. The Christian has unfolded 
to this faith faculty, or the sixth sense, a new 
realm. As sight discovers the realm of beauty, 
and hearing the realm of harmony, and taste 
the realm of delicacy and luxury, so faith dis-. 
covers a new realm, viz. : the spiritual and im- 
mortal. " Faith is the substance of things hoped 
for, the evidence of things not seen." The 
Christian, in the highest and truest sense, is a 
clairvoyant. He lives by faith. Whether in the 
6 



82 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

body or out of the body, he cannot tell. He is 
caught up to the third heavens and hears un- 
speakable words and beholds glorious scenes. 
This faith faculty goes beyond bodily conditions 
and physical laws ; pierces the clouds and veils 
of sense and places the spirit under the sover- 
eignty of the unseen. Its potencies play upon 
you; pervade you; uplift and impel you; brace 
and nerve you. You live as under the inspira- 
tion of the judgment day and in fellowship with 
the prophets and the apostles, and with the 
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. You 
"endure as seeing Him who is invisible." You 
do not live in eating and drinking and buying 
and selling, in vanity and pride; but in thought, 
in hope, in faith, in the power of the invisible. 
You have thrown your ideals into eternity, you 
have cast anchor within the veil, whither your 
forerunner has entered. You have a sure title 
to an immortal inheritance, and with such a life, 
akin to angels and God, you are not going to 
wallow like a beast in the muddy pools of earth. 
No, no ! From Pisgah's summit we have seen 
the land of Immortality, where sin and sorrow, 
disease and death never come; and we shall 
wait for the Master's summons and then plume 



DEATH OF SELF AND LIFE OF FAITH. 83 

our wings and soar away, to join the blood- 
washed and white-robed throng in the saints' 
everlasting jubilee. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

"Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it 
may bear more fruit." — St. John xv : 2. 

"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of 
Christ, let us go on to perfection." — Heb. vi: 1. 

" My will be swallowed up in Thee, 

Light in Thy light still may I see, 

Beholding Thee with open face ; 

Called the full power of faith to prove, 

Let all my hallowed heart he love, 

And all my spotless life be praise." 

—Charles Wesley, 



85 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GROWTH IN THE SANCTIFIED LIFE. 

ENTIRE Sanctification is the point of true 
progress in the Christian life, a new de- 
parture for growth in grace, and a new source 
of energy for work. While there are remains of 
the carnal mind, or any assertions of the power 
of inbred sin, most of the Christian's energy will 
be spent in watching self, fighting inward foes, 
and overcoming spiritual weakness. The vitality 
of the soul will be exhausted in its own fever. 
The energy which should be spent in work for 
Christ is used in battling sinful tendencies and 
worldly affinities. The soldier brightening his 
armor instead of winning battles. The mariner 
mending his ship instead of reaching port'. The 
Christian struggling to get into position, the right 
attitude before God, instead of automatically 
growing from fulness of life. Hence, we cannot 
speak of spiritual progress except in an accom- 
modated sense, until we are entirely sanctified. 



88 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

When the power of sin is destroyed, and its 
inbeing broken and cast out — when the old 
habitudes of the sinful life and the uprisings of 
the Adam-nature are silenced by the baptism of 
the Holy Spirit, the real hindrances to growth 
are removed. Growth is positive — it is the 
spirit-life asserting itself — it is every part of 
man's nature expanding, developing, and ma- 
turing. Growth is a vital act, and depends upon 
the health of the organism. The ratio of the 
growth depends upon the vitality. Hence, it be- 
comes an all-important question as to the whole- 
ness or holiness of the Christian as a condition 
of growth. Growth is not a condition of sanctifi- 
cation, but sanctification is a condition of growth. 

Sanctification, or the inversion of our sinful 
natures, and the perfection of Christian char- 
acter, must not be confused. The one is purity, 
attainable by faith in the cleansing blood of 
Christ, which is accompanied by the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost ; the other is development and 
maturity, and involves the element of time. 

Let us inquire into the conditions of growth 
in the experience of entire sanctification : 

First. In the happy experience of a full re- 
demption from sin, and with the Holy Ghost's 



GROWTH IN THE SANCTIFIED LIFE. 89 

power upon us and in us, do not let us conclude 
that we have reached the climax of Christian 
character ; that there is no need of growth in 
the grace we have thus gloriously received from 
God. In fact, that is but the beginning of true 
spiritual progress. We are not finished, packed, 
and labeled for glory, with nothing to do but 
rejoice in our glorious experience. We are to 
develop, and upon a symmetrical pattern. Not 
simply one virtue, or some faculties of our spir- 
itual manhood, but the whole man, upon the 
pattern of Christ Jesus. The seven distinct 
colors of the spectrum are necessary to form a 
true beam of light ; so the Christian character 
is to be complete and harmonious in all the ele- 
ments which compose it. 

One man's piety has too much fiery "red," 
or passionate zeal; another, the cadaverous 
"blue," a long-faced sanctimony; another, the 
uncertain "green," as of immaturity; another, 
the sallow "yellow" of feeble decrepitude; and 
another, the sweet, "violet" of a sickly senti- 
mentality. The growth or development must 
be harmonious and symmetrical ; and, because 
a man has one strong point in his character, do 
not let him therefore conclude that he is perfect 



90 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

and rounded, and has no further need of growth, 
so as to be the beautiful composite of the 
Christly spirit and character. We must see 
the importance of growth, and growth toward 
the ideal Christian character, and all the ele- 
ments of that character must be complete and 
harmonious in their combinations, so as to fur- 
nish the world with a few sample Christians, 
showing w^hat the grace of God can do in a 
mortal and human life. 

Second. We must be established in the expe- 
rience of holiness. Not only be able to refer to 
the fact as a past, but also as to a present expe- 
rience. Not only to be able to profess it, but 
also having the power of it in our character and 
life. The experience of entire sanctification 
must not be intermittent — coming and going — 
ever varying according to the religious sur- 
roundings ; but a life, a constant working force 
in the character. The danger is thus two-fold, 
viz. : a certain " shibboleth" or patented profes- 
sion, without the power of the experience in the 
soul and life — and an intermittent — coming and 
going — atmospherical experience, rising and fall- 
ing with the religious temperature. We must 
avoid these dangers, and stand fast in the liberty 



GROWTH IN THE SANCTIFIED LIFE. 91 

wherewith Christ hath made us free. Be firm 
amid the changing tides of worldly opinion and 
fashion. Be true while the age is unreal and 
false. Be hopeful in God while the men of the 
world and the skeptical are pessimistic. Be 
constant as a star, and shine on in the surround- 
ing darkness, with a faith in God that never 
varies. Hence, you see not only the need of 
growth, but also constancy in the growth. To 
be established in holiness so as not to be placed 
in unfavorable conditions or inadequate envi- 
ronments, is an essential lesson for the sanctified 
to learn. 

Third. The experience of entire sanctification 
must not supersede the necessity of trusting 
moment by moment in the merits of Christ's 
death and in God's keeping power, and the 
Holy Ghost as the vitalizing force of the Christ- 
ian life and growth. Christ's death and the 
efficacy of His blood are themes of the glorified : 
"Unto him that loved us and washed us from 
our sins in his blood, be glory and dominion for 
ever and ever.' 7 Surely we cannot outgrow the 
need of that atonement, or of God's keeping 
power, or the fire of the Holy Spirit in this 
mortal life. In fact, the sanctified soul trusts 



92 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

more fully and exclusively in Christ than before 
this experience was realized. The branch and 
vine cannot be separated. Our life, our growth, 
our usefulness, depend upon this vital union 
with Christ ; and our faith is the bond of such 
union. Christ becomes our sufficiency, our all 
and in all. We grow in Him. He is the Bread 
of Life on which we feed. He is a necessity to 
the soul. " In him we live and move and have 
our being/' In the sanctified life faith becomes 
strong and constant, and Christ is more precious 
than ever. Self-culture and will-power are the 
tricks of moralists ; but the sanctified man 
grows in Christ, trusts in Christ, and lives by 
the life and power of Christ. Self-righteousness 
dies, and Christ becomes our " righteousness, 
sanctification and redemption." Christ is mag- 
nified. Every testimony crowns Him the per- 
fect Saviour. We give Him all the glory. He 
becomes the theme of conversation, the one song 
of the heart, and the joy of the life. Fault- 
finders may manufacture the statement that 
sanctified people talk about themselves and set 
themselves up as examples and invite the world 
to look at them; but this is not the fact. Christ 
stands ever in the front. They are what He 



GROWTH IN THE SANCTIFIED LIFE. 93 

has made them. Themselves nothing but Christ 
in them a sublime fact and a sure conscious- 
ness, and they can never cease telling the story. 
It will be their song in glory, why not their 
testimony on earth ? 



CHAPTEE IX. 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper- 
ance."— Gal. v : 22, 23. 

"For he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and 
of faith, and much people were added unto the Lord." 

— AcTSxi: 24. 

"O Holy, Holy Ghost! 

Pervade this soul of mine ; 
In me renew Thy Pentecost 
Reveal Thy power Divine. 
Make it my highest bliss 

Thy blessed fruit to know, 
Thy joy and peace and gentleness 
Goodness and faith to show." 

—George Rawson. 



95 



CHAPTER IX. 

GOODNESS. 

THIS we can all have. We can't all be 
wise, or great, or rich, or eloquent, but we 
can all be good. Therefore, we are all intensely 
interested in what it consists. It has at least 
three characteristics : unity, beauty, utility. 

I. Moral Unity or Concord of Char- 
acter. — There is a vast difference between the 
religious and historical standards of character. 
To the historian a man appears only as a collec- 
tion of different qualities. The historian has to 
do with character only as a phenomenon, or col- 
lection of facts. He sums up certain virtues or 
qualities in man and averages his character. 
Its moral unity is nothing to him. 

But religion is not content with a collection 
of qualities, but seeks a good being as distin- 
guished from a bad being. It looks at the 
moral unity of the being. It demands motive, 
as well as acts. 

7 97 



98 PENTECOST IN PEACTICAL LIFE. 

Consequently when we are in search for 
goodness, particular virtues fail as a test. The 
natural man has some admirable traits of 
character, and some particular virtues may 
have made wonderful development and become 
restraints upon opposite tendencies. For in- 
stance, generosity or benevolence may be so 
cultivated and practised, as to counteract the 
mean, and miserly, and selfish tendencies of life, 
and the man stand forth as an example of phi- 
lanthropy. Natural affection may become a 
ruling power, and restrain the conduct, so that 
the man will make himself worthy of those he 
loves, and thus be kept from all outward acts 
that would reflect upon himself or his loved 
ones unfavorably, in the eyes of society. When 
we see these prominent mountain peaks of vir- 
tue, so pure and beautiful, we look for moral 
unity in the being, thinking it must go on to a 
whole : but alas ! it does not. It is a fragment. 
Something evil succeeds and breaks up the 
Concord of Character. There are some beau- 
tiful virtues, and some good deeds, but not 
goodness. Unity is wanting. 

The virtue of a class or an age, what we call 
Conventional Morality, also fails as a test. 



GOODNESS. 99 

Man must adopt the standard of society if he 
wants to be at peace with it. If he is singular 
he will be censured. If he is above and beyond 
it he will be martyred, and if below it, he will 
be ostracised. Hence, these virtues are too com- 
pulsory to test the man. Society imposes them. 
Thus society produces men who are fabrics of 
virtues. But when you look beneath their acts 
and analyze motives, you will find they practice 
these virtues because they are popular, because 
the age requires them, and because they are a 
part of the machinery of success in the world; 
and though the virtues may be the same as in the 
Christian, yet it is evident that the possessor of 
them is a very different person from him who 
practices these virtues with faith in God, and 
w T ith an unearthly motive back of them. 

Love of God must be the root principle of 
these particular virtues. The man must be 
good, he must have unity of being, a source for 
all his acts, or we cannot apply the term "good- 
ness" to his character. 

Goodness, as the unity of being, is essential 
in giving symmetry and scope to man's acts. 
It is adapted to many circumstances and all 
occasions. Some Christian graces do not enter 



100 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

into every act of life. They are only called out 
on special occasions. For instance, patience and 
resignation exhibit themselves only under the 
ills of life. Benevolence must have human 
need to call it forth, but goodness is always 
operative. It is the root of all the graces. The 
golden clasp that binds together all the elements 
of the character; the concord of being; the 
very essence of morality ; the sceptre of all 
motives, and gives acceptability to all our 
actions. It is Holiness. 

II. Beauty. — A thing is said to be good 
when it possesses desirable qualities. An article 
of food is called good when agreeable to the 
taste. A picture is called good when beyond 
criticism, when it delights us. Hence we are 
accustomed to apply the term good, to all objects 
of desirable qualities. Beneath this custom is a 
law — viz : goodness is beautiful. Mr. Wesley 
said, "Sour religion is of the devil." Ugly, 
disagreeable, gloomy, selfish and censorious pro- 
fessing Christians will never receive the general 
verdict of "good men and women," because 
they are repulsive and disagreeable. You can't 
make the world love such a religion, or believe 
in such Christians. No jewels ever shone so 



GOODNESS. 101 

brightly on Beauty's form, as the graces of 
religion on human character. "Love," why the 
ages have been trying to express its beauty in 
art, and poetry, and song. " Peace," the centu- 
ries have looked for it as the golden era, the 
highest civilization. "Joy," the world has been 
after it in thousands of ways, and laid down 
vast treasures at its feet. "Patience," the 
calm ideal for which every restless soul sighs. 
"Gentleness," sways her sceptre over courage, 
and rules when despots fail. " Kindness," like 
spring sunshine, thaws the hard and selfish ave- 
nues to men's souls, and causes them to thaw 
and blossom, and finally come to fruitfulness. 

These fruits of the Spirit are the most beau- 
tiful and desirable qualities of character, and the 
very elements of life which produce joy in a 
sorrowing world — and men must admire them. 
Christianity does not drive, but wins; instead 
of the sword, it carries the olive branch, and 
uplifts humanity by its attractive power. "If 
I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me." 

A selfish man is never attractive. He always 
robs you. You shun him. Not so the gene- 
rous: men gather round him like boys under 
an apple tree, ladened with ripe fruit in the fall 



102 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

of the year. A gloomy disposition will never 
enrich and cheer you. You would as soon 
cage an owl as a bird of song, as select them 
for companionship in sorrow and trial. Not 
so the cheerful and happy: men seek their 
society as if they were an orchestra, or a June 
morning. 

A censorious nature will never win and trans- 
form you. Fault-finding is not very stimulating. 
It takes but little religion to complain and 
growl. The north wind chills, and a Scotch 
mist veils the sun, and frost withers, and men 
don't generally seek such a climate. Censorious 
and fault-finding people drive away their friends, 
and soon find their lives a desolate winter. But 
on the other hand, the possessors of the fruits of 
the Spirit will be neither barren nor unfruitful ; 
but will move like spiritual magnets, drawing 
men to Christ, like leaven transforming all so- 
ciety where they go ; like the anointed priests 
of God ministering to the needs of humanity. 

"Some there are 
By their good deeds exalted, lofty minds, 
And meditative authors of delight 
And happiness, who to the end of time 
Will live, and spread, and flourish." 



GOODNESS. 103 

III. Utility or Usefulness. A thing is 
good when it is adapted to the purpose for which 
it was created. Hence, creation was pronounced 
"good." Goodness is not only an essence. Not 
merely an ornament. It is operative. It is not 
a negative sweetness, a delicate and ornamental 
beauty, but a practical and positive power. 

Not a soft, and lazy, and accommodating 
thing, but a manly, heroic, and conquering in- 
fluence. While it attracts and draws by its 
native force, especially the needy, and the sor- 
rowing, it also antagonizes wickedness. While 
it is beautiful, it is also manly. No pool is too 
muddy for the sunlight, and so no worldly con- 
tamination can soil the garments of goodness. 
Goodness is greatness. 

"'Tib only noble to be good, 

Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
And simple faith than Norman blood." 



CHAPTEE X. 

"We which have believed do enter into rest." 

— Heb. iv : 3. 

"Rest is not quitting 
The busy career; 
Eest is the fitting of 
Self to one's sphere." 

— Goethe. 

"O, that I could, with favored John 
Recline my weary head upon 
The dear Redeemer's breast ! 
From care and sin and sorrow free 
Give me, O Lord, to find in Thee 
My everlasting rest." 

— Chas. Wesley 



105 



CHAPTER X. 

SOUL REST. 

THERE is a craving in all souls for repose : 
and they shall never be well until they 
find it. When we see a ship anchored in a quiet 
bay after a stormy passage, we think of the joy 
which comes to souls in a region of calmness 
and silent life, when the moments will glide 
away like the echoes of God, and the angels will 
converse with us in the language of Heaven. I 
must reach a point where I can feel happy in 
communion with my own spirit. I must be 
able to examine myself in the light of God's 
revealing. The soul must be purified and har- 
monized, then to look into it will be a sweet joy. 
I must repose in God. 

WHAT IS SOUL REST? 

I. Repose of the Intellect in the 

Truth. — The two great disturbing elements in 

the human mind are guilt and uncertainty. 

The record of the past haunting us, and the 

107 



108 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

mystery of the future, are two things we cannot 
escape. They will force themselves upon us. 
The mind seeks relief. So far as guilt is con- 
cerned, it invents sacrifice, tries reformation, 
hides in sacramentalism, attempts culture; but 
all this can bring no real peace. 

"No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast, 
Nor hyssop branch, nor sprinkling priest, 
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea 
Can wash the dismal stain away. 
Jesus, Thy blood, Thy blood alone 
Hath power sufficient to atone." 

The consciousness of God, eternity, account- 
ability, guilt, moral weakness, is a universal fact 
which can never find repose, save in the cross of 
Christ. This consciousness will deepen into an 
intense misery. The infinitive eye will ever be 
upon you ; the limit and penalty of law expand- 
ing into infinity; guilt, like ten thousand officers 
of justice and vengeance, is ever after the soul. 
What means all this? To be scorched by the 
fires of remorse shows there is a divine nature 
to the soul. We can almost imagine that an 
imperial mind under the full blaze of God's 
light would prefer to fly into the depths of per- 
dition rather than make the attempt to steal 



SOUL REST. 109 

into heaven. Who can tell but that lost spirits 
in hell will hold themselves there by the very 
almightiness of conscience? Conscience must 
find an atonement for sin. Man must be able 
to look upon his past with a sense of peace. 
Memory must be soothed. The past must have 
its frowns converted into smiles. God's forgive- 
ness must cast its sunlight on the dark shadows. 
God is the key to all mystery. He is the abso- 
lute philosophy, and where faith centres in Him 
all questions are answered, all mystery solved, 
all uncertainty gone. Faith has no "ifs," and 
no occasion to ask "why." What a fine con- 
sciousness of exquisite joy one has when he 
realizes that the great question of salvation is 
settled. The nightmare of life is gone. The 
debates and disputes come to an end. The 
mind has found the citadel of Truth. The soul 
has committed itself into the hands of infinite 
Love. A divine benediction comes down upon 
us. Heaven opens. God speaks again. Com- 
merce is begun between the two worlds. Man 
prays, believes, and praises. God listens, loves, 
and blesses. Immortality becomes a certainty, 
and destiny a desirable and coveted home. The 
mind reposes. Guilt gone. Mystery solved. 



110 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

II. Divine Liberty for the Human 
Will. — Man's guilt is in proportion to his vol- 
untariness. The element of wilfulness is a 
peculiarity of sin. Although the soul is in 
bondage to sin, yet that bondage is man's choice. 
The monarch has locked himself in prison and 
thrown away the key, and has sealed his own 
fate by deliberate purpose. The will prefers 
the sin. The will is self-enslaved. Hence, if 
any change takes place in man, that change 
must be chiefly in the lawless will. Unless the 
determination is changed, there is no hope of 
restoration. The will must have its bias 
changed, and be set for holiness instead of sin. 
There can be no rest while the human will is in 
rebellion to the Divine. will. The fact is, the 
human will never finds liberty until it is in the 
orbit of the Divine will. Until it delights in 
God, having no choice but God's will. Where- 
ever the liberated soul goes, there goes with it 
an exalted pleasure. The power of holy neces- 
sity is felt to a certain extent, and this composes 
the mind. There are habits of righteousness 
which maintain a solid peace and pure states of 
the soul that are instinct with joy. The tend- 
ency to fly off, to depart, to wander, is gone. 



SOUL REST. Ill 

With ease and naturalness the soul, as if drawn 
by an irresistible attraction, obeys God's com- 
mands and joys in His purpose. Faber ex- 
presses it: 

" He always wins who sides with God, 
To him no chance is lost; 
God's will is sweetest to him when 
It triumphs at his cost. 

All that He blesses is our good, 

And unblest good is ill, 
And all is right that seems most wrong, 

If it be His sweet will." 

III. Spontaneity of Christian Action. 
— The mind of man must be employed. Occu- 
pation is a necessity of our nature. Inactivity 
is death. So in religion, the most active are the 
most happy and useful, but the action must not 
be forced, or the product of a weak faith or de- 
bilitated moral nature, or it will be servitude 
and not liberty. A religion that has to be bar- 
gained with and pressed into duty against its 
own inclination is not the religion of Christ. 

If there be no spontaneity about the inner 
life one would have no confidence in his charac- 
ter. He must work with ease, the overflowing 
fountain forces the streams on and on and over 



112 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

every obstacle with sparkling joy, and singing 
as they go bounding toward the great ocean of 
God's love. To such a soul happiness must 
come like the Sabbath of Heaven. 

If you live in the realm of duty, are pressed 
by burdens, fretted by care, the mere slave of 
religion, spurred on by necessity, dragging your- 
self to your work, saying, " Well, if I must do 
this I will," you have not learned one of the 
first lessons in Christ's school, viz., to be so full 
of the Holy Ghost that you can't help speaking 
and working. The inner fountain must have 
an outlet. The effort will be at repression, not 
expression. The Christian is no legalist drilling 
himself the best he can, straining his faculties, 
lashing his passions that they be still, polishing 
the conscience that it may be clear, spurring the 
will into obedience, but he breathes the air of 
Calvary, his disposition is Christly, and the dis- 
cipline of his soul healthy, and its action moral 
and easy. 

IV. Harmony with Circumstances. — 
The fight of the universe is between mind and 
matter. Shall man control the material, or be 
a slave to it? Shall circumstances mould his 
character, or he master circumstances? Is the 



SOUL REST. 113 

mind sovereign over material law ? Is the soul 
larger than the globe ? The danger of our times 
is a showy materialism, a mere utilitarianism. 
Everything has to be weighed and measured, 
counted off and the price told. Our age has 
received a coloring from the low sensational 
philosophy. But the greatest powers of the 
universe are the invisible. The master-forces 
are ideas and emotions. The mind and heart of 
humanity are sovereigns. The mind can create 
images, perceptions — scenes — of which the ma- 
terial are only types, and the heart can love 
when nature smites. We have longings which 
go beyond the stars and enter into the regions 
of eternity. Our bodies are confined ; but grav- 
itation cannot clip the wings of our spirits as 
they soar into the infinite realm. Our thoughts 
and our love don't consult material laws and 
forces when they go on excursions through all 
the universe of God. We are conscious of our 
mastery over surroundings, of our ability to 
control circumstances, or at least to adjust our- 
selves to our condition in life. Faith augments 
the manhood. Let the circumstances be what 
they may, the man of faith can ride in the rough 
jostling vehicle, because he is going Christward 
8 



114 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

and Heavenward. The fact is the unfavorable 
outward circumstances reveal the beauty and 
force of the inner life of the Christian. There 
is a vast world of being within far greater and 
better than all the world we see. Man is larger 
than his sphere, greater than his works, and 
superior to matter. The outward conditions of 
life are only the forests and fields through which 
the pilgrim passes in his journey to the Celestial 
City. Faith accepts these and harmonizes with 
them, as conditions of promotions. Hence, 
where other men would starve, the man of faith 
feasts. The frigid zones of human experience 
have the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, 
which makes the soul like a tropic clime. 
"Prisons would palaces prove if Jesus would 
dwell with me there." 

V. The Sense or Realization of the 
Permanent. — Here everything changes. No- 
thing seems to abide. Childhood with its sport 
and glee ; youth with its hopes ; manhood with 
its cares; home with its joys; wealth with its 
offers— all are evanescent, fleeting, short-lived. 
We find no rest in these. We can't rest in 
childhood and youth; time bears us on toward 
age. We cannot rest in our homes, for death 



SOUL REST. 115 

comes in stealthily and takes away the pet lamb 
from the fold. We can't rest in our ambitions 
or aims in life, for the sunlight is ever changing 
around the summit of fame. We can't rest in 
wealth. We cannot buy health, or peace, or 
hope. Shall I drift forever ? Is there no solid 
rock ? Are all things changing and fading ? 
Is nothing real ? 

" Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day 
and forever." The fruits of the Spirit remain, 
"Now abideth faith, hope, love." These are 
immortelles. These flowers never fade. Com- 
panions in Christ are companions forever. The 
promises of God are sure. " He that doeth the 
will of God abideth forever." Spiritual reali- 
ties are permanent and eternal. Here faith 
finds the immutable. Here the soul anchors. 

VI. Sense of Proportion. — There must 
be oneness of soul and supremacy of govern- 
ment. The faculties must all be under one 
leader. Swayed by one power and influenced 
by one master-motive. If selfishness and be- 
nevolence are fighting for dominion ; if hatred 
and love are contesting the throne ; if pride and 
humility are struggling for position ; if doubt 
and faith have drawn swords, there can be no 



116 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

rest in such a soul. But if benevolence and 
love, humility and faith have it all their own 
way, if the blood of Christ has cleansed the 
heart ; if these elements of the old nature, such 
as selfishness, hatred, pride, unbelief, are dead, 
being crucified with the old man ; if Christ 
reigns supreme, if you love Him with all your 
heart, mind, soul, and strength — then there will 
be harmony, wholeness, proportion of being, 
and hence rest of soul. No jarring emotions, 
no conflicting faculties, no warring elements, no 
dual life, no rebellious thoughts, no ungoverned 
passions, no contending motives or intentions, 
no counter purposes, no inward traitors, no flag 
of truce on the watch-tower, Jesus Christ all and 
in all. Love for Christ, marshalling and gov- 
erning the whole nature, now tuned to the music 
of the cross, making melody at the touch of the 
Holy Spirit, akin to the harmonies of heaven, 
echoes from the seraph's songs. 

VII., and lastly. Oneness with God. — 
When Omnipotence is the motive power and 
Omniscience is the choice, man will find no 
friction in all the universe of being. His mind 
will not be infallible, but will be divinely guided. 
His emotions will be robbed of their human, 



SOUL REST. 117 

passional nature, and be pulsations of the heart 
of God. " Possessor of the Divine Nature" — 
" heirs of God." 

Here is relationship, affinity, oneness. The 
entire Christian character may be viewed as one 
act, including within itself vast numbers of re- 
sultant actions — -just as we view the sea as one 
whole with one great motion, yet having waves 
all over it; just as in the atmosphere there is the 
invisible power of totality, with strong winds 
that shipwreck navies, and gentle breezes that 
fan the invalid's brow. So with the man of 
faith, he is living a holy life, singing the Divine 
psalm of love, doing the will of God, whether 
climbing the heights of worldly ambition or 
sinking into the shades of death ; whether en- 
tering the battle-field full armored and ready to 
fight, or unbuckling his armor at the portal of 
Heaven. 



CHAPTER XI. 

11 1 pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the 
world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." 

—St. John xvii : 15. 

" Careful, without care I am, 

Nor feel my happy toil, 
Kept in peace by Jesus' name, 

Supported by His smile ! 
Joyful thus my faith to show, 

I find His service my reward; 
Every work I do below 

I do it to the Lord ! " —Chas. Wesley. 

There is a market place in one of the old world cities 
which can only be approached through the vestibule of a 
temple. So men should approach business in the spirit of 
devotion. "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; 
serving the Lord." 



119 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE SAINT IN THE WORLD. 

AFTER the Pentecost of the soul, when the 
believer in Christ enters into the expe- 
rience of cleansing from sin and receives the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost, then comes the 
practical question of using the new grace and 
victory in the daily life. The inner foes may 
be subdued and inbred sin destroyed, and the 
Christian may reckon himself dead to sin and 
self, yet there will remain outward antagonisms, 
and he will find the world about him not always 
in harmony with his character, which has re- 
ceived a spiritual transformation, and become 
allied to heaven rather than to earth. This 
inner strife may cease as the response to tempta- 
tion has been in a great measure, if not alto- 
gether, silenced by the removal of the remains 
of depravity ; but the outward warfare will be 
more real as the sanctified character becomes a 

positive and aggressive power. 
121 



122 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

Let us now observe the sanctified soul in the 
world : 

I. There will be the necessity of ad- 
justment TO THE NEW CONDITIONS OF LIFE 
as they arise. Consequently, all struggle will 
not cease. There will be some unpleasant duties 
and some momentary friction. This will arise 
on account of outward conditions. For instance, 
sudden bereavement will produce desolation and 
grief. While God's will may be accepted as 
right and best, yet the bereaved one suffers 
nevertheless. Here is a new condition in life, 
and to meet it, and use it, and adorn it, and 
adjust ourselves to it, involves struggle. Be- 
cause we thus suffer in the adjustment of our- 
selves to these new and providential outward 
conditions in life, do not let us therefore con- 
clude that we are not " dead unto sin and self." 
Jesus agonized in the garden, and wept at the 
grave-side of Lazarus. Suffering is a part of 
our spiritual discipline. The Captain of our 
salvation was made perfect through suffering. 
The healing or wholeness of the vine will fol- 
low the pruning of the husbandman. Extrav- 
agant growths need to be checked as well as 
glaring defects healed. The absence of all con- 



THE SAINT IN THE WORLD. 123 

flict, especially that which is involved in the 
outward conditions of life, must not be counted 
as one of the evidences of entire sanctification. 
II. There must be new conquests in 
the spiritual realm. — After crossing the 
Jordan, and in the possession of Canaan, we 
must push our conquests. Jericho will have 
to be taken, and the inhabitants of the land 
cast out. Napoleon once said, " Conquest has 
made me what I am, and conquest must main- 
tain me.' ? He did not rest in past achieve- 
ments, but pushed on to new victories. " There 
shall be no Alps," he said; and he built his 
perfect roads, climbing by graded galleries their 
steepest precipices, until Italy was as open to 
Paris as any town in France. The belief of 
society to-day is, that the world is used up; 
there is nothing new in politics, in Church, in 
literature; and this conservatism paralyzes all 
activity. So in religion, we are to push our 
conquests until all difficulties give way, and 
until " there be no Alps" before us. We are 
not to feast on the spoils of victory, but make 
every victory the vantage ground for a new 
conflict. This is the way we become strong. 
And we are not only to become holy, but also 



124 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

mighty in pulling down the strongholds of 
Satan. We must not only see to it that we 
are cleansed from sin, but that our souls are be- 
coming moral and spiritual champions for God. 
We must strengthen our weak points of charac- 
ter and become skillful in spiritual victory. 
We do not receive the maximum power of the 
Holy Ghost only as we use what God gives. 
Development, or expansion and growth of the 
sanctified soul is the ratio of pow r er. Every 
victory crowns the victor, not with a laurel 
wreath, but with new power for greater victory. 
Faith is increased by exercise; benevolence is 
strengthened by giving ; skill in Christian war- 
fare comes from practice, and usefulness is the 
result of continued and persistent activities for 
God. This is God's method of making strong 
Saints or mighty Christians. 

III. There must be superiority to the 
world. We must use the world, make it our 
servant, and not we become its slave. The world 
must be our vehicle in which we ride to glory. 
Its wealth we may have and use, but not to value 
as we do our " inheritance that fadeth not away." 
Its honors we may desire as a candlestick on 
which our light shall shine, — position, for the 



THE SAINT IN THE WORLD. 125 

sake of influence for Christ. But we must 
remember our true royalty in God, our dignity 
as Christians, and be superior to this world, 
which is but our temporary abode. 

Heavenly-mindedness is not inconsistent with 
earthly duties. The heir of glory will do better 
work for humanity while in this world than the 
slave of sin or the dupe of personal ambition, 
who lives for himself alone. There will be a 
necessary conflict between the unearthly charac- 
ter of the sanctified soul and the spirit of this 
world, which seeks ease and show and position, 
as the end and ideal of human life. The eternal 
world fills the Christian's vision. He acts for 
all time. His deeds are immortal. His feet 
touch the earth but his head is above the stars. 
His goal is God's throne. 

Hence, the Christian is singular, is misunder- 
stood and opposed by the pride and envy of the 
men of the world. But this should never cause 
us to feel little in the presence of earthly pomp 
and power, for we are the " lordlier chivalry" — 
the royalty of Heaven — " kings and priests 
unto God!" 



CHAPTER XII. 



"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is 
stayed on Thee ; because he trusteth in Thee." — ISA. xxvi. 3. 

11 These surface troubles come and go 
Like ripples on the sea, 
The deeper depths are out of reach, 
To all, my God, but Thee. 

" Thou hast bought me with Thy blood, 
Opened wide the gate to God ; 
Peace I ask — but peace must be, 
Lord in being one with Thee." 



127 



CHAPTER XII. 

"KEPT IN PERFECT PEACE." 
(ISA. xxvi. 3.) 

THIS passage of Scripture is God's lullaby to 
the soul. It is enough to quiet an angry 
man, to calm the quarrelsome, and to bring a 
sweet repose to the troubled mind. 

We begin to count our disturbances, our 
troubles, our little annoyances and say, "Is it 
for me?" O thou of little faith ! Who is it gives 
peace ? Who is it that keeps us in perfect peace ? 
Is He not able to do what He has promised ? 
. . . This blessed text, has two prominent 
lessons for the Christian, viz: " A Description 
of a high form of Religious Experience, and the 
Condition of its Attainment" 

I. " Perfect Peace" and a Perpetual 
Peace. " Kept in perfect peace." This is an 
experience that is rare and a life that few live, 
yet possible to all, on the conditions laid down. 
If I wanted to teach my child horticulture, I 
9 129 



130 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

would take him to green-houses and hot-houses, 
and raise his ideal as to what art can do in per- 
fecting flowers. If I wished him to be an 
artist, I would take him to the galleries of 
paintings and let him see the productions of 
masters. If I wished him to be a musician, I 
would let him hear the best voices of the land. 

So, if we are to have beautiful, symmetrical 
and practical Christians, we must hold up proper 
ideals of Christian experience and character in 
our preaching. We must have examples of 
what the grace of God can do for mortals in 
every age. The world must see some specimen 
saints. Hence, the importance of not only an 
ideal but also a real and personal experience in 
the deep things of God. 

The "peace" spoken of in the text is not the 
absence of all foes, or the negation of painful 
excitement, or the heritage of dull phlegmatic 
natures — the ashes after the flame has burnt out. 

There is a quality of peace, that goes with 
acute vitality, with strong, active natures, with 
energy and emotion and sensibility and power. 
Peace is using man's nobler Dowers so that 
they come into harmony, — inward harmony of 
being, concord of character. It is a " perfect 



KEPT IN PERFECT PEACE. 131 

peace. The entire man 
reposing in the blood of Christ and at one 
with God. This peace is a permanent quality 
of the character. Not fitful and transient ; 
not sndden and occasional, but a life. " Thou 
wilt keep him in perfect peace." Too often 
with us, we simply have occasions of peace, 
seasons of joy and times of refreshing — they 
are intermittent, they come and go. They 
are guest-like but not home-like. They do 
not abide with us. Why is this? Because 
we have failed to appropriate God's keeping 
power. We firmly believe in God's forgiving 
power, and cleansing power, and even com- 
forting power, but fail to trust fully in His 
keeping power. 

Most of us have had some wonderful experi- 
ences, times when all went right, God was 
reconciled and we were happy. Temptations 
did not annoy us, or trials fret us, or circum- 
stances discourage us, — for the time, a "per- 
fect peace ; ' — but some tempest, some foe, some 
change upset it, and we found ourselves tossed 
with billows and blown out of our course by 
storms — all because we did not trust in God's 
keeping power. 



132 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

" My dying Saviour and my God, 
Fountain for guilt and sin, 
Sprinkle me ever with Thy blood, 
And cleanse and keep me clean.' I 

"Now unto Him who is able to keep you 
from falling , and to present you faultless before 
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy — 
to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and 
majesty and dominion and honor, both now and 
forever." (Jude i : 24, 25). 

II. The conditions on which this Perfect 
Peace is obtained and retained — viz : Spiritual 
Mindedness and Trust in God. " Whose mind 
is stayed on Thee." This does not imply that 
we are never to think of anything else, or study 
other subjects, or give our thoughts to other 
worthy pursuits, but it does mean that the 
tendency of the mind shall be Godward. The 
mind can be so habituated to spiritual things, 
that it will have a transcendent perception of 
the Divine Being, and see God in everything. 
The invisible world becomes more real and 
potent than the natural one. The imagination 
becomes so accustomed to winging its flights to 
the celestial city, the soul forms the habit of 
living in the sphere of the invisible and spirit- 



KEPT IN PERFECT PEACE. 133 

ual. The soul carries God in the thoughts as 
well as the affections. 

This mind-power is accompanied by heart- 
power. There is not only meditation on the 
Divine character, but also abandonment to the 
Divine guidance and protection. The very 
moment you begin to look away from God and 
to take the gift from the altar, to manage it 
yourself, you begin to chafe and fret, and become 
filled with self-care and unrest. The moment 
you question the Divine wisdom and love, and 
put out your hand to steady the ark, the pres- 
sure of duty is felt and the burden of trials 
becomes oppressive. You doubt and you begin 
to sink. You doubt, and troubles come around 
you like hungry wolves. You doubt, and fear 
of success and anxiety about the future and 
dread of death, will haunt you like spectral 
forms in all the walks and ways of life. You 
step outside of God's will, and you will find no 
sentinel angels keeping guard, and the sense 
of loneliness will come over you, like a lost 
wanderer in a dark wilderness. 

The only true life, and safe life, and peaceful 
life — is in covenant keeping with God. He 
does the keeping , we the trusting. O my 



134 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

brother ! get out of the realm of care and the 
region of fog and mist ! I know you live there 
by the scowl and wrinkle in your face — by the 
melancholy tone of your voice, and the minor 
key on which you make your confessions and 
the lack of triumph in your character. 

Why not come into the realm of Trust, and 
then summer will break out of heaven and rest 
on your head ; you will rise to some Alpine peak 
of spiritual joy and look down on the clouds 
beneath your feet ; you will move on in your 
duties through life like the harmony of the 
spheres in their orbits ; and your will, lost in 
God's will, you will find activity a joy, like the 
path of the sunbeams on the ocean's bosom as 
the god of day appears to brighten the world. 
This is the philosophy of peace, and how to be 
kept in it — viz : Spiritual-mindedness and trust 
in God. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

"Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid." 

—Matt, xiv : 27. 

"Rejoice in the Lord. Again I say, Rejoice. " 

— Phil, iv : 4. 

"Rejoice evermore. — 1 Thes. iii : 16. 

"My God, the spring of al) my joys, 
The Life of my delights, 
The glory of my brightest days 

And comfort of my nights. 
In darkest shades, if Thou appear 

My dawning is begun ; 
Thou art my soul's bright morning star 
And Thou my rising sun." 

— Watts, 

"One is scarcely sensible of fatigue while he marches 
to music. The very stars make harmony as they revolve 
in their spheres. Wondrous is the strength of cheerful- 
ness. Efforts to be permanently useful, must be uniformly 
joyous— a spirit all sunshine — graceful from very glad- 
ness — beautiful because bright." — Carlyle. 



135 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CHEERFULNESS. 

NOWHERE in the Word of God is sadness 
made a necessary ingredient in personal 
religion, or gloom enjoined as an ornament to 
piety. There are certain melancholy croakers, 
who will go searching for proof texts to the 
contrary. As the owl hides in the beautiful ivy 
or wild wood in the daytime, and prefers to 
steal out at night, and amid darkness and gloom 
seek its food and happiness, so some people are 
always peering into the dark things of life, and 
refusing the daylight. Hence, as I begin to 
hold up the privilege and duty of cheerfulness 
in the Christian life, they begin their gloomy 
quotations. " Blessed are they that mourn." 
"By the sadness of the countenance, the heart 
is made better." "Godly sorrow worketh re- 
pentance to salvation." But these passages are 
not in conflict with Christian cheerfulness — 
"Blessed are they that mourn" — mourn over 
137 



138 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

sin — no other kind of mourning produces hap- 
piness or blessedness. Solomon, in speaking of 
"the sadness of the countenance" making the 
heart better, is giving us a contrast between the 
house of mirth and feasting and the house of 
mourning. He condemns worldly levity and 
thoughtlessness, but not Christian cheerfulness. 
For in another place, he says, "A merry heart 
doeth good like medicine." 

The sorrow which Paul commends is godly 
sorrow, not human sadness. "Ye were made 
sorry after a godly manner." "The sorrow of 
the world worketh death, but godly sorrow 
repentance to salvation." Hence, these and 
kindred passages are not opposed to Christian 
cheerfulness. "Be of good cheer, rejoice ever- 
more." 

A forgiven and saved man has no "cause to 
mourn. The very message of Christianity "is 
glad tidings of great joy." We are exhorted to 
be cheerful and to rejoice. What this world 
needs is sunshine. There is too much gloom 
and too many shadows for the flower germs in 
human hearts to blossom. Make people happy 
and you silence all quarreling, and remove nine- 
tenths of the wickedness out of the world. 



CHEERFULNESS. 139 

There is a difference between mirth and 
cheerfulness. The former is transient, fitful, 
accidental, like a flash of lightning through a 
dark cloud, and lasts but for a moment, while 
the latter is a habit of the mind or disposition 
of the soul and keeps up a constant shining and 
perpetual daylight. 

Some people are bom cheerful. "A star 
danced" at their birth. Angels sang. The sun 
laughed. Nature smiled. And these fortunate 
souls have ever since radiated gladness and 
cheerfulness. In their presence shadows fly, 
clouds suddenly light up with a golden hue, 
and night has its coronet set with stars, and its 
throne graced by the queenly moon. Such 
persons are richly endowed and dvinely ap- 
pointed to sing songs for earth, and make 
human life sparkle with gladness, and religion 
attractive. 

There are others who were born dissatisfied. 
The world gave them no welcome. They began 
life by crying. They were cradled in discontent 
— educated in the frigid zone. Their icy na- 
tures have never thawed. They are light- 
extinguishers and the eclipses of social life. 
Shakspeare says of them, "Why should a man 



140 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

whose blood is warm within, sit like his grand- 
sire cut in alabaster?" 

The happy bee can escape the poisonous 
flower and the thorny branch and find honey 
enough in the sweet and fragrant blossoms, but 
these dissatisfied souls always find the poison 
and the thorn. 

But making all due allowance for natural 
temperament, we do think that the Christian 
ought to be able to smile and occasionally re- 
joice. He ought to be agreeable, if not attract- 
ive. I find no element of gloom in Christianity. 
In fact, it is the only thing that can relieve the 
human heart of its sorrow and lift from human- 
ity its burden. It plants a star in the darkest 
night, and opens a door of hope through the 
threatening barriers and frowning obstacles in 
life's pathway. 

The text suggests two leading thoughts, viz. : 
The Possibility and Duty of Cheerfulness. 

I. The Possibility of Cheerfulness in 
Human Life. — The Christian can be cheerful 
though he has trials, and rejoice in his God 
though he has trouble. Of course, the Christian 
in common with all men is subject to labor, 
disease, disappointment, affliction, bereavement 



CHEERFULNESS. 141 

and death. These all share alike, both saint 
and sinner. But the Christian has an advan- 
tage. His sins are forgiven ; his past covered ; 
his present is enjoyable; Christ is his compan- 
ion; the Holy Ghost his comforter; his heart 
is not a barren plain or a withered and faded 
autumn, but a paradise of fertility and an eter- 
nal spring of beauty. His future is full of 
promise; his faith and hope do not refuse to go 
on excursions into the beyond, and come back 
like frightened fugitives with folded wings to 
sit and moan by his side, but like Caleb and 
Joshua, they bring back a good report of the 
coming days. Why should he despair ? Why 
be sad ? Amid his loneliness he may listen to 
the harps of the better land. Amid his losses, 
he may count his treasures in the immortal 
world. Amid his afflictions, he may "reckon 
that the sufferings of the present time are not 
worthy to be compared to the glory which shall 
be revealed in us." 

As the setting sun, shining in adverse skies, 
paints the rainbow in the storm, so should faith 
in Christ smile the clouds of sorrow away and 
tint the future with a prophetic ray. Hence, 
let us inquire what are the elements of Christi- 



142 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

anity which have a tendency to produce cheer- 
fulness of the soul, &c. 

1. Forgiveness. — A guilty and a burdened 
sinner cannot be happy. The haunting past 
and dreaded future make the heart tremble and 
the soul quake with fear. But when the burden 
is laid on Christ and the guilt cancelled by the 
ransomed price of the soul, then like the Ethio- 
pian eunuch, he may "go on his way rejoicing." 
The captive, released from chains, sings ; the 
slave, liberated from bondage, shouts for joy; 
the prisoner, escaped from his dungeon, exults 
in his freedom ; the culprit, pardoned by the 
governor, glows with rapture. So the released, 
the freed, unfettered and pardoned sinner re- 
joices — rejoices in a forgiven past, a happy 
present and a secured future. "Thy sins, 
which are many, are all forgiven." "Beloved, 
now are we the sons of God." " If children, then 
heirs." O, ye redeemed souls, ring your bells of 
jubilee, raise your notes of praise, lift your 
standard and tread your heavenly march as 
freemen— as noblemen — " Kings and priests 
unto God." Forgiven, ye ought to be cheerful. 

2. Contentment. — A dissatisfied man can't 
be cheerful or happy. Happiness is a thing of 



CHEERFULNESS. 1 43 

disposition, not in external changes, but in 
the internal life. This is a mistake men are 
constantly making. "O, if I had better cir- 
cumstances — if my surroundings were only 
different, if this plan were only successful, that 
object attained, I would be happy and cheerful." 
No you wouldn't. With the same heart, dis- 
position and tendencies, you would be the 
same restless and dissatisfied soul. The foun- 
tain or source of content must spring up in 
the soul. 

Contentment is not in having abundance, but 
in enjoying what you have. Some people can 
get more happiness out of a faded sunflower in 
a goblet of water, than others from a hot-house 
of exquisite flowers and plants. Some are more 
cheerful in an humble cottage, than others in 
gorgeous mansions and fashionable luxuries. 
The gardener's grape-vine which he has planted 
and nursed and cared for and watched, affords 
him more satisfaction than some parents find in 
their children, or some men in their riches. No 
man can be happy and cheerful who is all the 
time goaded by care and dragged along by 
burning desire, and is in the hot haste of pur- 
suit. Nothing is valued, enjoyed, or delighted 



144 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

in ; a golden crown is a dull and stupid thing 
to him compared to the child's delight with 
its penny toy. It don't take much to make 
us happy, if we are capable of happiness. A 
slight zephyr can make melody on the JEolian 
harp, but the Muses are baffled with tuneless 
instruments, and fail on soundless substances. 
A happy heart has enclosed within it an unfad- 
ing and eternal Eden. You would as soon 
expect the owl to sing, or the frog to laugh, or 
the desert to blossom, or the mummy to dance, 
as for a dissatisfied man to be cheerful, or a 
barren heart to be fertile and productive of 
happiness. O, unhappy man, why not throw 
open the shutters and kindle the lights in your 
darkened house? Then the harpers and singers 
will feel a welcome and come in to make melody 
for your enjoyment ; the friends of earth will 
draw near to behold and listen and admire. 
You will never lack company. Your hours 
will never be lonely, and the world will thank 
you for your illumination and your tribute of 
gladness to life's dreariness and gloom. 

3. Hopefulness for the future is an essential 
condition of Cheerfulness. — When we have lost 
hope then farewell to cheerfulness. Recollec- 



CHEERFULNESS. 145 

tions may keep our past alive and repeople our 
present, calling up the friends and pleasures 
agone, and making them live again, thus throw- 
ing a golden tinge over the past. Contentment 
may make the present enjoyable and companion- 
able, and a passing delight. But hope must 
keep the light burning and the table spread, or 
the feast of life will end, the guests all be 
gone, and a dark night set in. None are 
wretched but the hopeless, but a Christian man 
has his hope cast as an anchor within the veil, 
far, far, beyond the sway of tempests or the 
furious sweep of mental desolation. We can't 
afford to dismiss Memory or discharge Hope. 
The one the angel of the past, giving a golden 
hue to the dews and dusky shades of the twi- 
light; the other the angel of the future, opening 
a door through the night of death into the 
morning of the eternal day. 

Thus you see, dear friends, that with a 
forgiven past, a contented and happy present, 
and a hopeful future, which Christianity gives 
the believer, we can and ought to be cheer- 
ful. The tendency of Christianity is to make 
us happy. Let us test its power and prove its 
promises. 
10 



146 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

II. The Duty of Cheerfulness. — It is 
not only possible for the Christian to be cheerful, 
but it is also his duty. The text is a command. 
The command not only implies that the thing 
commanded can be done, but also ought to be 
done. Command implies possibility and duty. 
Cheerfulness, therefore, is a duty. 

1. We owe it to God. — A sad and unhappy 
Christian is a reflection on God, a libel on relig- 
ion, and a false commentary on the Bible. If a 
Christian truly loves God he will also delight 
in Him. "We also joy in God." "Rejoice in 
the Lord, O ye righteous." "Rejoice in the 
Lord always, and again I say rejoice." "De- 
light thyself also in the Lord." We ought to 
be cheerful, therefore, to show the world that 
we delight in God ; that He is our joy and our 
salvation ; that His service is a pleasure, and 
His presence a paradise; that He is supremely 
good and lovely ; that the sacrifice of all things 
for His sake is but light; that "we count all 
things but loss for the excellency of the knowl- 
edge of Christ Jesus our Lord." God is not 
glorified by our groans, but by our praises. 
Let us Christians show the world what kind of 
a God we love and serve — not a tyrant, not an 



CHEERFULNESS. 147 

exclusive and selfish despot, who exists simply 
for His own glory ; not a God who delights to 
punish or make us sad, but a loving Father, 
long-suffering and kind, forgiving and merciful, 
seeking the highest welfare of His children, and 
doing not only what is right, but also best for 
us. Let us praise Him, speak well of Him, 
delight in His service, bear meekly His chastise- 
ments, and prove to the world that " their rock 
is not as our Rock, our enemies themselves 
being judges." "Great is our God above all 
gods." "Who is like thee, Oh Lord, among 
the gods?" "Who is like thee, glorious in holi- 
ness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" 

2. Cheerfulness is a duty toe owe our fellow- 
men. — We need not and ought not to add to 
earth's gloom. There are enough sighs without 
ours. Plenty of complainers without you. Why 
go in these ranks of gloomy, dispirited and 
desponding men and women, all telling each 
other of life's bitter woes ? Had you not better 
go into the camp and sing a cheerful battle 
song or hurrah for our King? One such hero 
can inspire an army, one such Christian can 
put hope in thousands of hearts, and cause the 
trailing banner to float again proudly in the 



148 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

breeze. It has been happily said, "A cheerful 
temper spreads like dawn, and all vapors dis- 
perse before it. Even the tear dries on the 
cheek, and the sigh sinks away half breathed, 
when the eye of benignity beams upon the un- 
happy." What right has a man to be a ghost 
in society — a gloomy presence in the world, 
simply an echo of sadness and despair? 

Certainly the Christian has a higher commis- 
sion. He is ordained to be a happiness-ma7cer. 
By sanctified wit, by good humor, by sacred 
song and sweet poetry, by cheerfulness of heart, 
by glow and flow of soul, make the world 
brighter and happier. Wherever you go shine 
and sing. Lift up homely care, illuminate 
drudgery, put a golden tinge on sorrow. Never 
lay aside these royal robes and put on sackcloth. 
"Let humor bedew duty." Let buoyancy take 
charge of dullness. Let hopefulness stand at 
the door of the future. Let cheerfulness be as 
sunshine overcasting your whole life. Then 
you will be a blessing. The disappointed will 
come and rekindle their torches at your light. 
The sorrow-stricken will come to be warned 
and encouraged. The despairing will find the 
little spark of hope left fanned to a flame. 



CHEEKFULNESS. 149 

3. Cheerfulness is a duty we owe to our- 
selves. — Our happiness is involved. The gloomy 
are never well or happy. Ruskin has said, 
"Cheerfulness is natural to health as color to 
the cheek." And it certainly bears the same 
relation to mind. Anxiety, care, discontent 
wear out the mind far more than cheerful labor. 
It is not work, it is worry that so soon exhausts 
men. Hence, for the sake of health, peace of 
mind and happiness, we ought to be cheerful. 
Bolingbroke said many bad things, yet he cer- 
tainly uttered one truth when he said, " I have 
observed that in comedies the best actor plays the 
droll, while some scrub rogue is made the fine 
gentleman or hero. Thus it is in the farce of life. 
Wise men spend their time in mirth ; it is only 
fools who are serious." It is the part of pru- 
dence and of wisdom to be cheerful and happy. 
Melancholy is disease, cheerfulness is health. 

Usefulness is also involved in our cheerful- 
ness. The cheerful man will do more work, 
and do it better, and persevere longer, than the 
sad and gloomy. The man who marches to 
music will not tire half so soon as he who goes 
with his mind brooding on the long march and 
the probable dangers of battle. Only hopeful 



150 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

and joyous natures inspire, stimulate, arouse 
and lead society and humanity. 

The coward can never make heroes of others, 
or the dispirited produce patriots, or the deserter 
be successful in securing recruits. Therefore, if 
we desire to be useful we must be cheerful and 
hopeful, and capable of arousing and inspiring 
others. We must see no defeat, entertain no 
fears, meet trials with a smile, and be deter- 
mined that our flag shall yet wave over the 
citadel of joy, and we then shall move like con- 
querors through the earth and be welcomed by 
the world's hosannas. 

"Be of good cheer" For the sake of God's 
character, humanity around you, and your own 
health, happiness and usefulness, "Be of good 
cheer.'' 

In Conclusion. — The Saviour gives this 
command when the surroundings are ap- 
parently unfavorable, and the circumstances 
gloomy. The disciples are in a ship, the sea is 
boisterous, the winds high, and dangers threaten 
them. Jesus comes to them, walking on the 
sea, saying, "Be of good cheer. It is I, be 
not afraid." 

Again, Christ is about to leave His disciples. 



CHEERFULNESS. 151 

He tells them thev shall be scattered, and as a 
necessity must meet with trials. "In the world 
ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, 
I have overcome the world/ 1 

Now then, if amid a dangerous storm and in 
the approach of inevitable persecution, we are 
exhorted "to be of good cheer/' can there be a 
single condition in life in which we may not 
hope and sing? O Christian, dread not the 
coming storms, for Christ makes the storm His 
chariot ; dread not the oppositions of the world, 
for Christ has conquered ; dread not even death, 
for its sting was lost in the Saviour's body on 
the cross; dread not the grave, it has been per- 
fumed by the Rose of Sharon, and its key is 
kept by Him who has arisen and is alive 
forevermore. "'Be of good cheer." Pilgrims, 
going home, why don't you sing; Ransomed 
of the Lord, why don't you rejoice; heaven is 
ready to welcome you, why don't you lift up 
your head and watch for a glimpse of the 
flowing banners and beckoning hands? Your 
life shall end in victory. Your joy shall be 
eternal and your "pleasures forevermore." 
Look beyond, then, the passing cloud and the 
raging storm to the calm of eternity. Look 



152 PENTECOST IN PKACTICAL LIFE. 

beyond the short-lived troubles and present 
sorrows of earth to the time and place when 
sorrow and sighing shall flee away, and God 
shall wipe away all tears. 



CHAPTEK XIV. 

"And the children of Israel did according to all that 
God commanded Moses ; so they pitched their standards 
and so they set forward every one after their families, 
according to the house of their fathers." — Numb, ii : 34. 

"See on the mountain top 

The standard of your God; 
In Jesus' name I lift it up 

All stained with hallowed blood. 
His standard bearer, I 

To all the nations call, 
Let all to Jesus' cross draw nigh; 

He bore the cross for all." — Chas. Wesley. 

"People seldom improve when they have no model but 
themselves to copy after." — Goldsmith. 

" There are no moral blanks ; there are no neutral char- 
acters. "We are either the sower that sows and corrupts, 
or the light that splendidly illuminates, and the salt that 
silently operates; but being dead or alive every man 
speaks." — Chambers. 



153 



CHAPTER XIV. 

"LIFT UP A STANDARD FOE THE PEOPLE." 

(Isaiah lxii: 10.) 

THE term "standard," in its general use, 
signifies "an ensign of war, or a declara- 
tion of principles, or a model established by 
respectable authority." Hence, to lift up "a 
standard for God's people," is to proclaim your 
loyalty to the cross, to declare your faith in 
Jesus Christ, and set yourself as an example or 
pattern of piety. To these three thoughts, 
affecting our purpose, our words, and our 
works, I invite your attention. 

L Lift up a standard by inspiring 

OTHERS WITH PATRIOTISM FOR AND LOYALTY 

to Christ. — There is an invisible power in a 
standard. There is something in oar flag beside 
the stars and stripes we see. There is some- 
thing beside so many yards of silk or bunting, 
costing so many dollars. You cannot look at 
our glorious national symbol in a utilitarian 
155 



156 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

aspect, considering that it would be of use 
for clothing or covering, and sold for so many 
pence. That low estimate would be a contempt 
for the bravery and sacrifice and death of our 
Revolutionary fathers and noble warriors, who 
purchased our freedom, but who now sleep in 
the dust. There is something more than use, 
something more than beauty, something more 
than sentiment or poetry in our flag; it is a 
symbol, an inspirer of patriotism, a kindling 
spark of loyalty. In its presence, under its 
folds, for its sake, men have given their lives as 
an offering on the altar of American liberty. 
Men have fought for it, starved to death in 
prisons for it, and died on battle-fields for it. 
Surely there must be some secret, mysterious 
and invisible power in it to arouse, inspire and 
sustain men. 

In this sense we are to lift up a standard. 
" Every man of the children of Israel shall 
camp by his own standard, and under the ensign 
of his father's house." u In the name of our 
God will we set up our banners." As Christ- 
ians we have no visible ensign; but at the same 
time we can inspire others to activity, arouse 
them to energy, and induce holier living. In 



LIFT UP A STANDARD. 157 

this sense we are to lift "up a standard." 
There is a magnetic, quickening, inspiring, and 
comforting power in that soul who is in living 
and constant communion with God. One such 
Christian in a church will be a kindling-torch 
to all expiring lights, a steady glare amid the 
darkness, an electric spark which will thrill the 
whole chain. Were it not for a few of these 
faithful ones, with martyr zeal, and apostolic 
faith, and undying love for Christ, the Church 
would become sluggish and fall asleep amid 
dying souls and a condemned humanity, and 
the moral world would become a desolate and 
dreary desert. 

Somebody must seize the standard, unfold its 
colors, rush towards the foe, call up the sleeping 
squadrons, break up the dress-parades, and pre- 
pare the scattered and indifferent hosts of God 
for battle. Some one must become an enthusi- 
astic and heroic leader for God's people, The 
devil is active. His forces are at work night 
and day. Evil is ever on the watch. We need 
in the Church of God men who can cope with 
these insidious and active powers. Men with 
fire in their souls. Men who have love for 
Christ. Men who can act. Men always ready 



158 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

for duty. Men of courage, whom criticism 
cannot intimidate, or censure alarm. Men who 
can endure self-denial for Christ's sake, and 
count it joy to suffer for their Master. 

The Church is full of cowards. Men who 
are too timid to pray lest they should be criti- 
cised — too selfish to give to God's cause, lest 
they should not make twelve per cent, by the 
bargain — too dignified to speak to a stranger 
about his soul, when he trembles on the verge 
of hell — too narrow in their vision to see the 
cpming glory of God's fulfilled promises; they 
are so near dead you must feel their pulse to 
know if they are actually alive. What w T e need 
is deeper devotion to Christ, more activity, 
greater zeal, and a loyalty that is beyond doubt. 
Men who can be relied on; who can not only 
sing psalms in prosperity, but endure hardness 
in adversity. 

There are two things in which we especially 
need the inspiration of a higher standard, viz. : 

1. A greater desire for the salvation of souls. 
If we really believed men lost, we would be 
more zealous for their salvation. If you truly 
realized that that dear child of yours, out of 
Christ, was lost, you would not rest night or 



LIFT UP A STANDAKD. 159 

day until you knew him saved. The truth is, 
we do not realize the danger, or believe the 
Bible description of the lost condition of hu- 
manity. Let a child fall into the river, and a 
hundred strong men are -ready to risk the perils 
of the water to save it. Let a house be on fire, 
and the family cut off from escape, and brave fire- 
men will pierce the flames to rescue them from 
death, and a whole community applaud the 
noble deed. Do you not suppose that if we 
really believed that our friends, neighbors and 
loved ones were dropping into an eternal hell, 
that we would be ready and brave in the at- 
tempt to save them ? The old battle-cry of the 
gospel, "Lost," "lost," "lost"— the old theology 
of Hell, made Christians earnest for salvation. 
Our new creed of evil tendencies and soul cul- 
ture, the dominion of the former being the only 
hell, and the dominion of the latter the only 
heaven — making sin and salvation purely sub- 
jective — has ruled out God, and men have no 
fears, and very little hope; consequently, no 
soul-stirring appeals, no agonizing prayers, no 
marvellous sacrifices for the sake of saving 
souls. We need to hear the thunder-peals of 
the law; its demands and penalties must be 



160 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

proclaimed, and in this respect, somebody must 
raise the standard. 

2. We need more faith in the sufficiency of 
the remedy. We not only disbelieve that men 
are lost, but we also fail to see in Christ the 
only and yet complete remedy for human sins 
and miseries. At least we do not act as if we 
did. Who would think of deliberately lecturing 
a drowning man on the art of swimming, so 
that he might learn how to save himself. This 
is the way we preach to lost sinners. We teach 
them the theory of salvation, and then leave 
them in their sins, to grow out of them by the 
process of self-culture. Where is the direct 
appeal — realizing that souls are on the verge, 
the tottering verge of eternal ruin — warning 
them of the danger, and that confident descrip- 
tion of the power of God to rescue and save? 
Where is that agonizing prayer, tearful persua- 
sion, and loving, persistent effort for the salva- 
tion of men ? Do we really believe that Christ 
is the only Saviour and the only hope of sinners ? 
Do we really believe men in danger, and He 
able to save even the chief of sinners ? If so, 
let us lift up our standard, and glory only in the 
cross of Christ as the supreme good. If we 



LIFT UP A STANDARD. 161 

have the only remedy for the disease of sin, let 
us publish it to the world. If we have found 
a ransom, let us tell others the story, and pass 
the glad tidings on to earth's remotest bounds. 
We need the inspiration of a new faith in 
Christ's atonement. In this speculative age we 
have lost confidence in God's only remedial 
scheme. We have substituted philosophy for 
Christ's cleansing blood — the study of the Bible 
as a text-book for the sole-reliance upon its 
promises and daily practice of its precepts, and 
the attractive services of the church for all per- 
sonal sacrifice and devotion. O for the old apos- 
tolic zeal ! O for that love of Christ that rises 
beyond dollars and cents ! O for that old-time 
heroism that dared be honest when it involved 
poverty, and proved faithful when it cost sacrifice 
of ease, and home, and even life! O for these 
old-time Christians who could sing praises at 
midnight in a Philippian jail, and take joyfully 
the spoiling of their goods ! We need a few like 
these to arouse a worldly and sleeping Church. 
II. We are to "lift up a standard" 

BY A DECLARATION OF OUR PRINCIPLES OR 

A profession of our faith. — A Christian 
cannot be neutral. He must show his colors. 
11 



1.62 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

The world will claim him unless he identifies 
himself with God's people. There are some 
people who think they are under no obligations 
to reveal the secrets of their inner life, or to 
publicly declare the source of their morality. 
But if Christ is the Great Physician who has 
healed them, do they not owe it to Him to re- 
commend Him to others ? Is that gratitude ? 
To be silent would be mean. If you have the 
secret of salvation, and men are dying all around 
you, is it honorable to keep it from them ? If 
a man is forgiven of God, and saved by our 
Lord Jesus Christ, he will be glad to own his 
Master. If he does not confess Christ, he is 
none of His. 

The regiment of soldiers who refuse to be 
uniformed, and are ashamed of the banner of 
their country, are not to be trusted. Such 
soldiers ought to be court-martialed for coward- 
ice. The Christian who does not publicly join 
God's people, so that the world may know 
on whose side he is, is not a loyal servant of 
Christ. 

What reason can a good Christian have for 
not uniting with God's people, and publicly de- 
claring his faith? Does he not desire some 



LIFT UP A STANDARD. 163 

release from obligation? Does he not work 
at a disadvantage? Does he not lose all that 
strength and comfort which comes from Christ- 
ian fellowship? Does he not insinuate to the 
world that either the Church is not good enough 
for him, or he not a fit member of the Church? 
His conduct reflects either on the Church or 
himself; and if a Christian, such is an injury 
to the cause of Christ. 

A flag or standard is nothing without loyalty 
and bravery; a profession is nothing unless the 
heart is right and the life devoted to Christ. 
Yet, on the other hand, a man's whole life will 
be wrongly interpreted, and his influence will be 
set down by the world on its side, unless he 
declares his personal faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. There are but two sides. " Behold, I 
set before you life and death, good and evil; 
choose ye this day whom ye will serve." 

There are but two armies, and every man 
must hold up the cross of Christ or the black 
flag of Satan. There are but two masters, God 
and mammon, and ye cannot serve both. Who, 
then, is on the Lord's side ? When the roll is 
called, why not respond ? To refuse is coward- 
ice, and a dishonor to Him who paid your ran- 



164 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

soni price. He was not ashamed of you in your 
filth and rags. He came to you as your brother, 
assumed your nature, and paid your debt, and 
now you are ashamed of Him, your Saviour 
and Redeemer. "Lift up a standard" declare 
your position, and let all men know that you 
profess to belong to Christ. 

III. "Lift up a standard" by your out- 
ward example. "Be careful to maintain 
good works." " Let your light so shine before 
men that they may see your good works and 
glorify God." You are to be like a city on a 
hill-top, not in a dark dell ; a light on a candle- 
stick, not under a bushel. True piety will be 
conspicuous, and ought to be. The reason 
why some people's good works are not seen 
is because they are too little for even micro- 
scopic power to discern. If you do good it 
will be seen. .If no results of your doings are 
visible, the reason is simple enough — you have 
done nothing. 

The sun is a luminous and conspicuous object. 
Why not call it imprudent? The city on a hill 
is grand. Why not call it bold? The world 
dislikes popular Christians. The sleepy church 
loves seclusion. But God intends that Christi- 



LIFT UP A STANDARD. 165 

anity should be visible — "seen of men." You 
could as easily veil the sun as obscure the love 
and deeds of a true Christian. Light will 
shine. Goodness will be manifested. In a 
hundred different streams will its refreshing 
waters pour forth if the fountain is full. 

Christ is judged by His followers. The world 
reads Christians, not Bibles. The abstract truths 
of Christianity are judged by the concrete acts 
of professors. Our lives are to be transcripts of 
the Man of Calvary. We are to be " in Christ's 
stead/' and represent the principles of His gov- 
ernment in our characters and conduct. We 
must lift up a standard, and assume to be exam- 
ples of holiness. 

Somebody must prove victorious in the strife, 
and stand unscathed amid temptation. Some- 
body must live a heavenly life on earth, and 
show a superiority over worldly care and selfish 
tendencies. Somebody must rise above the 
offers of this world's honors and riches, and 
prefer the crown of life, so that self-seeking 
men may see the folly of their time-serving 
policy. Somebody must rise into that sublime 
faith and courage when human arithmetic shall 
be laid aside, and human probabilities not be con- 



166 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

suited, and God's promise shall be more reliable 
and certain than all human plans and selfish 
contrivances. Somebody must show a disdain 
for the toys of pleasure and the gilded hopes of 
time, and so covet the crown and desire to be 
like Christ, that all other things will fade in the 
presence of such immortal prospect. 

You ought to be that person. You ought to 
be admired for your goodness, loved for your 
kindness, and honored for your faithfulness. 
Let others do as they may, you ought to be on 
the watch-tower, and in the harvest field. Let 
others hoard for earth, but you should be an 
example of benevolence. Let others stoop to 
low things, and with the muck-rake of selfish- 
ness heap up riches ; but you must live like an 
angel, on the incorruptible word, and not like 
an animal, on the refuse of true manhood. 
Take your eyes from low standards. Count not 
men's failures, reckon up not their unfaithful- 
ness, compare not with what others do, listen 
not to the murmurings of the doubters, the 
growlings of the dissatisfied, the complainings 
of the selfish, and the dreams of defeat and dis- 
aster of the unfaithful; but in God's strength 
and name set up your banner, lift up your 



LIFT UP A STANDARD. 167 

standard, rise above sluggish humanity, call to 
the sleepers, alarm the indifferent, and by the 
magic power of a noble example put new life 
into the ranks of Emmanuel's army. Never 
allow our banner to trail in the dust or suffer 
defeat. Who will be the standard-bearer? 
May God raise up some Christian heroes ! 



CHAPTER XV. 

"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is 
Mount Zion."— Psa. xlviii : 2. 

"In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of 
glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His 
people." — Isaiah xxviii: 5. 

"Lord, thy imputed righteousness, 
Thy beauty is, my glorious dress: 
Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed 
With joy will I lift up my head. 

"This spotless robe the same appears 
WheD rained nature sinks in years; 
No age can change its glorious hue. 
The robe of Christ is ever new.'" 

"What is beauty? Not the show 
Of shapely limbs and features. No: 
These are but flowers 
That have their dated hours, 
To breathe their momentary sweets, then go. 
"Tis the stainless soul within 
That outshines the fairest skin." 

— Sir A. Runt 



169 



CHAPTER XY. 

ESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 

WE hear much about the science of the 
beautiful in nature, art and literature, 
but not so much about it in religion. The 
grandeur of nature, the glory of art, and the 
beauty of poetry are eloquent themes for the 
pulpit and rostrum, but the "Beauty of Holi- 
ness" is not sufficiently discussed and properly 
portrayed. The reaction from Romanism, in 
stripping religion of forms and ceremonies, sym- 
bolisms and architecture, music and statuary, 
has gone too far in the other extreme, and left 
us with simply a naked creed and barren 
worship. 

Ritualism is to be avoided on the one hand, 
and vulgarity and barrenness on the other. 
Music, art, sculpture, painting, poetry, in fact 
all that is beautiful and divine in these things, 
should be made tributary to religion. A cold 
and philosophical nature can perhaps worship 
171 



172 PENTECOST IN PEACTICAL LIFE. 

God through a logical creed, but poetic, and 
sympathetic, and emotional natures need the 
help of sacraments and forms and church life, 
and the beautiful. We very wisely discourse 
upon the religion for the masses, but don't let us 
also forget the religion for the cultured. Hence, 
the appropriateness of this theme of ^Esthet- 
ics, or the Science of the Beautiful in 
Religion. 

There are two classes of persons who will 
not appreciate this theme. The one deems 
nothing valuable but the useful. With them 
utility is the measure of value : dollars and cents 
the only standard of worth. Poems, paintings, 
statuary, and music are extravagances, if not 
nuisances. But they have a narrow and con- 
tracted idea of utility. Is there only one utility 
in relation to the welfare of man? Is the ma- 
terial process the only way to do good? Are we 
doing humanity no good except when we are 
feeding and clothing them? Have they no 
minds? Have they no souls? Is it nothing to 
refine the imagination, purify the thoughts, ele- 
vate the taste, lead men to love the beauty of 
God's world, and to desire to "see the King in 
His beauty and the land afar off?" 



AESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 173 

The work of the poet is far more valuable 
than most people are aware of. He opens a new 
world to us. He makes an image of mankind. 
He expands the reader's world; his sympathy 
is deepened and widened till the idea of a 
brotherhood takes possession of him. In like 
manner the artist serves the race. He can make 
us see "the loveliness of a mountain line, or the 
chord of color in an evening cloud, and to listen 
to the music of the stream/' and to rejoice in 
the distant landscape we could never see but for 
the artist. It has been happily said, " He who 
is taught to see and delight in the color of the 
primrose has something henceforth in him which 
will go far to keep him from cruelty to his wife ; 
he who has been taught to be happy in the 
purity of a meadow's stream has something ever 
afterwards in him which will make him loathe 
the dirt of a back yard." 

The other class who will not appreciate this 
theme have no natural love or cultured taste for 
the beautiful. Some people have no idea of 
color. They invariably call blue, green, and 
green, blue. They can scarcely discriminate 
between black and red, at least when the object 
is removed from sight — they forget which it 



174 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

was, black or red. At one time it was supposed 
that color had nothing to do with light, but the 
study of chromatics has revealed the contrary 
theory. The different colors of bodies arise 
from their reflecting this or that kind of rays 
most copiously. For instance, a body that ap- 
pears red reflects rays in greater abundance than 
other bodies. Black reflects none of the rays, 
but absorbs all the light that falls upon it. 
While we admit this, yet the eye has something 
to do with colors, at least with understanding 
and appreciating them. Just so it is with the 
beautiful. Some people have no idea of or taste 
for the beautiful. Glorious sunrises and gor- 
geous sunsets are only signals to begin and end 
the day's work. The mountain peak, in its 
lonely grandeur, upon which one man gazes and 
thinks of eternity and God, will only suggest to 
another the idea of massiveness. Niagara, in 
its sublimity, will only be thought of with a 
feeling of pity that so much water is wasted 
and cannot be used as a power to turn mill 
wheels and carry on manufactures. The oil 
painting is not noticed, but "that must be a 
costly frame" will be the most likely remark. 
Some people's idea of heaven is only a guaran- 



AESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 175 

tee against loss and a good mansion to live in 
and an inheritance to enjoy. The higher idea 
of sentiment, beauty, rapture, ecstacy, devotion, 
worship, love, godlikeness do not enter into their 
anticipations. 

But there are others differently endowed. They 
are sensitive — alive to every touch or sound or 
sight — well -tuned instruments upon which a 
zephyr can make music. You may call them 
"sentimental, visionary and fanciful." God has 
made them so, and evidently intends that the 
endowment shall be utilized. Hence, for them, 
aesthetics is an important and profitable study. 

Religion ought to be beautiful, whether it be 
in its Godward or manward relations. I con- 
ceive religion to consist in three things, viz.: 
"Worship of God, Deeds of Charity to men, 
and Personal Character, or the Inner Life ; and 
in these three different relations we may see the 
fact and importance of the beautiful. 

I. In the Worship of God. — Faith in 
God is a thing of growth and culture. It is not 
a native of the human heart. It is divinely 
implanted. There is a tendency toward atheism 
in the unrenewed heart. Let even a Christian 
man neglect, his Church or worship and he loses 



176 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

one of the things which keeps his faith in God 
alive. If men do not come in contact with the 
thought of God at church, will they anywhere? 
Were it not for Sabbath services men would not 
feel the truth of God or of unearthly realities. 
Remove worship and you make atheists. Hence, 
a formal attendance upon church is better than 
none at all. Now then, if we once admit the 
value of worship, the question of the manner, 
and kind or style of worship ought not to be 
overlooked. 

Prayer is one form of worship. It is the 
turning of the soul to God. It is the expression 
of a human need, a cry for the Infinite. Yet 
there is more or less self-regard in prayer. We 
pray to God because we desire and expect some 
good from Him. Though prayer is a part of 
the religious service, yet it belongs to one of our 
self-regarding states, in which the wants of self 
are more prominent than the glory of God's 
being and character, and is, therefore, not the 
highest form of worship. 

Praise is another form of worship, wherein 
we rise above our needs and cares and our hap- 
piness, and adore the good and beautiful God. 
Singing is not necessarily praise. Happy emo- 



^ESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 177 

tions excited by singing are not necessarily 
praise. But praise sees the eternal loveliness of 
God, and the self-forgetful soul pours out its 
tribute with all the hosts of heaven. 

Worship is a sight of God — seeing or con- 
templating, and loving God, as He is revealed 
in His Word and in nature. There is a looking 
away from ourselves unto Jesus. Something in 
the Divine Being which attracts the mind and 
heart by its own intrinsic worth or worthiness. 
This is a higher form of worship than prayer. 
The prime thought is not the profit that may 
come to the worshiper, but the worthiness of the 
object worshiped. 

Wordsworth has better expressed it : 

"In such access of mind, in such high hour 
Of visitation from the living God, 
Thought was not; in enjoyment it expired. 
No thanks he breathed; he proffered no request, 
Rapt into still communion that transcends 
The imperfect offices of prayer and praise." 

This being still and dwelling upon God until 
earthly pains, and sorrows and. sins fall from our 
entranced minds, is akin to* the worship of our 
Lord and Saviour in His earthly pilgrimage. 
12 



178 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

Worship, then, is a sight of God, but not any 
and every sight. 

Some views of God are oppressive. Some 
terrifying. Some partial and unattractive. Such 
views are false worship, whether among heathen 
or Christian people. God is beautiful. He is 
Infinite loveliness. "The fairest among ten 
thousand and the one altogether lovely." 

We can't love the unlovely, or that which we 
deem unlovely. It is an impossibility. So men 
will never love God till they see Him as lovely 
and beautiful. If you represent God as selfish, 
seeking His own glory at the expense of His 
creatures' welfare, as jealous, as arbitrary, as 
indulging in favoritism, you necessarily disgust 
and repel men. But, if you represent Him as 
He is in the Bible, and as revealed to us in 
Jesus Christ, full of kindness, forgiveness and 
love, the champion of goodness over evil, the 
model of purity, the example of all desirable 
and noble virtues, the Redeemer, Companion and 
Comforter of the human race, you not only win 
the attention, but also the hearts of men. 

If we had more of this divine elevation in 
our religious services, if God was only repre- 
sented as attractive^ — not merely a distant sover- 



ESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 179 

eign on a regal throne and acting as general 
overseer of the universe, but also a living pre- 
sence, clothed in the beauty of nature as a 
garment, and dwelling with men as a companion, 
so that we may have the privilege of Enoch of 
walking with God, then we would have no fear 
of the neglect of public worship, no complaint 
of the dullness of the Sabbath, and no dread of 
atheism. 

Owing to uncultivated and inadequate ideas 
of God given to the world by theology — a God 
at a distance from us, lest we might become 
pantheists — a God of principles and laws, and 
decrees and penalties, humanity has been forced 
to assume another great power in the universe 
viz. : Force and Materialism. When we come 
back to the simplicity of eternal love manifested 
in Jesus Christ, the heart of humanity will sigh 
and pant for God. 

I can't see how a man with the ideal of the 
beautiful can fail to love God. If he be a poet, 
here in the Divine character are his finest and 
highest conceptions. If he be an artist, the ab- 
solute must be ever before him as the ultimatum 
of perfection. If he be a lover of nature, the 
Divine presence gives it a new and complete 



180 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

charm. Music never reaches its sweetest notes 
and highest strains till it rises unto praise of 
God. The poet's dream, the artist's ideal, the 
scientist's supreme force, and the soul's eternal 
longings for happiness are all realized in God. 
This dissatisfied, discontented, restless, self- 
seeking, inventing, venturing world of ours 
don't know what is the matter with it. It is 
is God it needs. It is Eternal Beauty it 
requires. It is Infinite Love it is craving. 
The hope of our world and humanity is in the 
fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy: " Their eyes 
shall see the King in His beauty, and they 
shall behold the land afar off'." The glory of 
God and beauty of immortality, these will hush 
your sighs and satisfy your cravings. 

II. The Beauty of Christian Deeds. — 
The acts of Christ are better understood and 
remembered than His teachings. His taking 
little children in His arms and blessing them ; 
His washing His disciples' feet ; His silence 
under insult ; His forgiveness of His murderers 
when on the cross ; His patience under suffering, 
have been themes for poets and subjects for 
artists, and memorials of praise to His name for 
these eighteen centuries. 



ESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 181 

Christian actions are ever beautiful. False- 
hood has a hideous form. Nobody admires 
liars. In order for lies to be received or enter- 
tained, they must be dressed up in disguised and 
attractive apparel. But truth is a heavenly 
queen, commending herself to all, without flu- 
ency of speech or gaudy attire. 

Hatred no one admires. The world shuns 
it like a beast of prey. But Love makes a para- 
dise of every place where she dwells, and at her 
touch the desert blossoms. " The golden beams 
of truth and the silken cords of love twisted 
together will draw men on with a sweet violence 
whether they will or not." 

Pride has been personated by one quaint 
writer "as stalking with the pace of the soldier, 
but with the habit of a courtier, striving to add 
to her own stature, feathered in the crown, 
corked at the heels, light all over, stretching her 
legs and spreading her wings like the ostrich, 
with ostentation of flight." But with all its 
pretension, pride is as great a beggar as want, 
and a great deal more saucy. 

But Humility comes as the softened shadow 
before the stature of excellence, and as the found- 
ation of all Christian virtues — the low land 



182 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

where droughts never come and the grass and 
flowers ever bloom. This is sufficient to show 
you that Christian acts are beautiful. The act 
of Mary in anointing the feet of Jesus with 
spikenard has ever been admired. "Whereso- 
ever this gospel shall be preached in all the 
world, this also which this woman hath done 
shall be told as a memorial of her." The 
widow's two mites, and the conduct of the good 
Samaritan are everlasting memorials of beauty. 
Your acts will go on improving and beautifying 
this earth of ours, have an earthly immortality, 
and also beautify your mansion and enrich your 
crown in heaven, and there prove to be the 
gems of beauty which the glorified wear. 

III. Beauty of Christian Character 
or Inner Life. — Christian acts are only out- 
goings of an inner life. Streams from a foun- 
tain, manifestations of a hidden and secret force. 
It is a beautiful thing to see a man rise above 
selfishness and give money to the distressed and 
needy, but that is only one apple from the beau- 
tiful tree of his benevolence. It bears that 
kind of fruit all the time. It is beautiful to 
see a man rise above resentment and to forgive 
insult, but that is only one little jewel from the 



ESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 183 

casket of forgiveness. He carries enough of 
these beautiful pearls to recompense the injury 
of a thousand men a thousand times. If these 
outgoing actions are tc be admired, how about 
the source of such good, the inner life? It is 
no whited sepulchre ; no haunt of evil ; no en- 
campment for Satan's troops, but the dedicated 
temple of the Holy Ghost; the home of all 
virtues and the central force of all moral good. 
Such a heart is really a banquet house, rich in 
provisions and ample in music. God spreads 
the board and angels form the orchestra. Here 
humanity is refreshed and entertained. 

"Behold, the kingdom of God is within you." 
Goodness is ever beautiful, sin is deformity. 
"Sour religion," says one, "is of the devil." 
So are ugly and disagreeable professors of re- 
ligion. The Christ nature and spirit are ever 
attractive. Repulsive qualities of character are 
the old Adam nature. The Christly elements 
are sure to win. Our selfishness repels men, 
our generosity wins them. Our harshness chills 
them, our sympathy warms them. Our pride 
overlooks them, our love seeks them out. Our 
bitter words are nauseous doses, but gentle lan- 
guage a soothing cordial. Just as these charac- 



184 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

teristics of the old nature, malice, pride, envy, 
harshness, selfishness, unforgiveness, exist in us 
will men shun us, but just in proportion as 
love, joy, sympathy, patience, kindness, the 
spiritual elements predominate, will men admire 
us and covet and desire the same fertility of 
happiness. The world soon finds out what kind 
of an inner life w r e have. We may think they 
do not. We may attempt concealment. But 
why do they shun you? Why do not the weary, 
the sad and the sinning go to you for comfort? 
They knov/ it would be going to an empty store- 
house and a barren and icy heart. They would 
starve in your presence. I would not live with 
some people all the time for a world. I can 
torture out an hour, but O, how could I endure 
a lifetime? They give you nothing; they be- 
little you ; you feel ashamed of them ; you feel 
mean when with them; they call out all that is 
disagreeable in your nature. They stir up latent 
passions and kindle slumbering evils. But 
there are others we love not only to meet, but 
can't meet too often, and we never tire of their 
company. They make us blossom; they make 
us sing; they make us pure; they make us no- 
ble, a-nd they make us feel royally, above little- 



AESTHETICS IN RELIGION. 185 

ness, above meanness, a life akin to the angels. 
The secret of all this is beauty of character. 

In conclusion. Our heavenly Father, in 
order to wean us away from earth and to induce 
us to desire the heavenly and better country, 
has represented that land to us in pictorial 
beauty. A city with golden streets, pearly gates 
and jasper walls ; with eternal mansions and 
royal company. The river of life clear as crys- 
tal ; the tree of life ; the fadeless inheritance. 
Music, welcomes, crowns, thrones, all these in 
glowing pictures are held up to the gaze of our 
faith in the word of God. The soul is charmed, 
and we start for that beautiful, fadeless and 
immortal country. 

"Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies, 
Beyond death's cloudy portal, 
There is a land where beauty never dies, 
And love becomes immortal. 

"A land whose light is never dimmed by shade, 
Whose fields are ever vernal, 
Where nothing beautiful can ever fade, 
But blooms for aye eternal." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

"Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall 
fruit be on the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail and 
the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off 
from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; 
yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 
my salvation." — Hab. iii : 17, 18. 

"Then sorrow, touched by Thee grows bright 
With more than rapture's ray; 
As darkness shows us worlds of light 
We never saw by day." — Thomas Moore. 

"Affliction is the good man's shining scene; 
Prosperity conceals his brightest ray; 
As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man." 

—Young. 

There are seasons of sorrow, times of trouble in human 
life; but the whole pilgrimage is not one continuous tun- 
nel — we come out of the shadow into the sunlight. Then 
the tunnels are passage-ways through mountain difficulties, 
and the light is always the brighter when we have passed 
through them and we are that much nearer home. 



187 



CHAPTER XVI. 

"SONGS IN THE NIGHT." . 
(Job xxxv : 10.) 

NIGHT is the season of stillness and gloom, 
and is an emblem of sadness and sorrow. 
In the daytime all is activity, and songs are not 
uncommon. Birds, beasts, nature, man — every- 
thing is alive, and the world is full of sounds 
and songs. But "songs in the night " are un- 
usual. Silence, sleep, gloom, darkness, — any- 
thing but songs. 

Human life has its nights, and the Christian 
can say, "'My God giveth me songs in the 
night/' The subject of the text is Triumph 
in Trials ; or, Victory in Sorrow. 

It is one thing to sing in the daytime of 
health and prosperity, and quite another thing 
to sing when the body is slowly fading and the 
night of adversity overshadows your soul. 

When the home is unbroken, the cup full, 
and the harvest plentiful, it is easy to rejoice, 
189 



190 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

for that is a daylight song ; but it is not natural 
to sing in trouble, when the home is darkened, 
when property is going, and when the prospect 
for earth is gloomy. We can sing in our ecstatic 
moods, but how about our seasons of conflict? 
In spring-time, when buds are unfolding and 
flowers blooming, and grass growing, and all 
nature is youthful, we may sing • but how about 
autumn, when the leaves have withered, the 
flowers faded, the fruit fallen, and the cold win- 
ter of blight and decay has come upon life? 
Can you sing then? 

Vacant chairs, desolate homes, fresh graves, 
declining health, shattered fortunes— are not 
very skillful hands on the harp of praise, or 
good inspirers of songs, yet our text tells us, 
"God, our Maker, giveth us songs in the night." 
Therefore, let us inquire into this possible and 
joyous experience of rejoicing in trouble. 

God will inspire in us songs though the night 
may be long and dark. We can say, like Hab- 
akkuk, " Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, 
neither shall fruit be on the vine : the labor of 
the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no 
meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, 
and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet will 



SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 191 

I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 
my salvation" 

I. The Nights of Human Life. — The 
eternal day is the heavenly and immortal life; 
here on earth we have day and night. Human 
life is a mixed life — sunshine and shadows, joys 
and sorrows, day and night — no joy without its 
sorrow, no day but what is followed by a night. 
Even childhood has its troubles; not long 
and dreary nights, it is true, for with children 
troubles soon come and go, yet for the moment 
the cloud is dark, the next moment the sun may 
be shining. The deeper thoughts of responsi- 
bility — death and eternity — do not trouble the 
playful spirit of childhood, though even plays 
and toys bring trials. The loss of a toy or the 
death of a bird, or a hidden plaything will make 
the child a sincere mourner over the grave of 
its love. Its grief is sincere, but soon over; 
and another toy, or bird, or plaything is just as 
good. Let us notice some of the special nights 
of human life. I will name three, sin, loss, 
anxiety. 

1. Sin. — As soon as the thoughts of respon- 
sibility and death seize us, the duties and privi- 
leges of a religious life unfold to us, and a 



192 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

knowledge of God is manifest to us, convictions 
of sin cloud the soul. Conscious sinfulness in 
the presence of a holy God brings a shadow over 
the soul. Hence, when the Holy Spirit convicts 
of sin, righteousness, and a judgment to come, 
and faith lays not hold of the Saviour, then 
there is a dark night. "Woe is me!" "O 
wretched man that I am!" 

2, Loss. — Much of earth's sorrow is occa- 
sioned by w r hat we lose. Wealth brings its 
comforts and affords luxuries, and adds to tem- 
poral enjoyment; but it is almost an impossi- 
bility to have great possessions and not love 
them and make them the life. A poor man may 
be contented in his poverty, but for a rich man 
to become poor is a blight and a shadow. Those 
who have never had abundance rejoice in small 
gifts and enjoy little things; but those deprived 
of abundance can never be satisfied with less 
than what they have been used to. To make 
riches the chief object of life, the love of 
display and desire to excel the leading ambi- 
tion, and then to become reduced in circum- 
stances so as not to be able to carry out 
the long-cherished plan, is a dark night and 
a deep shadow. Wounded pride and disap- 



SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 193 

pointed ambition make many lives bitter, and 
many souls sad. 

Health is one of earth's greatest blessings. 
It gives hope and enjoyment; it sparkles like 
wine and bubbles like a dancing rivulet. It 
kills care and banishes fear; but it is not immor- 
tal. No man yet has a physical and earthly 
immortality. The blush of youth will fade; 
the glow of health will diminish. Time will 
plow wrinkles in the face, and winter sprinkle 
the snow of age on the locks. When sickness 
comes, when the store must be left, business 
given up, the world forsaken, the bed your con- 
stant resting place; when this hope goes and 
that prospect fades; when each day makes the 
shadow darker, and the prospect of recovery 
less probable, then there is a night 

Friends — loved ones — make this world more 
like home than all things else. Who would 
live for himself? Were it not for those we 
love, life would lose its relish and luxury ; labor 
would be a bondage, and earth's feasts would 
have no songs, and human life no jubilees. 
Broken homes mean broken hearts. If a grave 
contains a loved one, your earthly life will ever 
after feel the vacancy ; every happy circle will 
13 



194 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

be broken ; separation is inevitable. This night 
shadow will fall upon every human heart sooner 
or later. 

3. Anxiety. — Sin and loss cause many 
troubles; but anxiety also casts its shadow. 
Some people may conquer temptation and doubt 
— the trouble arising from sin — and bear up 
under trials and afflictions, yet cannot endure 
anxiety ; anxiety about home, children, business, 
death — their future is full of ghosts. Their 
coming days have no songs or blossoms, but are 
full of thorns and graves. Their eternity has 
no waving banners, but is full of manacles and 
fetters. These are the chief sources or causes of 
trouble on earth — sin, loss, anxiety. 

II. Possible Triumphs in Life. — Human 
life has its nights, but also its songs. We 
cannot escape trouble, but we can triumph in 
trouble. We cannot ward off affliction, but, by 
the grace of God, we can rejoice in tribulation. 

1. Conviction for sin is sure to come to all 
who are instructed in the Gospel and illuminated 
by the Holy Spirit. All of us have had our 
dark hours on account of sin. How many are 
now under this cloud of unforgiven sin, saying, 
"O that I could see the day -break. Rise, O 



SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 195 

Sun of Righteousness, and let me behold the 
darkness flee away!" There is much for you 
to be thankful for, convicted soul. You are a 
subject of God's mercy; your concern for your 
salvation is an evidence of the Divine call, a 
proof of your election. You ought to thank 
God you are not left alone; that you see your- 
self a sinner, and need a Saviour. Those prayers, 
groans, tears, sighs, are the death-throes of sin ; 
soon you will be a new creature in Christ Jesus. 
"Mourning endureth but for a night, joy comet h 
in the morning." You shall have "beauty for 
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the 
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 

2. You can sing amid your losses also. 
Wealth may go, but that is not all. It is only 
throwing off hindrances; it is only the dust 
from the chariot wheels of the conqueror riding 
to his crown and throne. Loss of property has 
often been the tearing up of the nest that has 
taught the young eagles to fly; the throwing 
overboard the cargo to save the sinking ship ; 
the burning of Sodom to drive out the lingering 
Lot; the providence of God turning the eye of 
man from the perishing to the immortal. 

If the loss of your brown- stone house shall 



196 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

gain for you the eternal mansion, you can afford 
to lose. If the loss of servants is supplemented 
by angel guardians, you can afford to do your 
own work. If the loss of luxuries improve 
your health and give you an appetite for spir- 
itual food, you can afford to sit down to plain 
fare, with the Saviour of sinners for your guest. 
There can be songs in this night. 

Health may decline, but the soul will ripen 
for heaven. Affliction is the souFs ripening 
season, and death-beds the angePs harvest fields. 

Let a Christian get a true idea of heaven — 
let faith spy out the land and bring back some 
of the coming vintage — let hope anchor him 
there, and at times he will be home-sick. 

There are victorious saints who look upon 
death as release — the prisoner freed, the soldier 
discharged, the mariner in port, the traveler 
home. 

Sick rooms have their songs. I enter a sick 
room — there is a poor consumptive wasting 
away — the cheeks hollow, eyes sunken, and the 
rosy, healthy, blushing girl of last year, is now 
like the seared leaf. I look at her through 
the medium of time, or as a man of the world 
would look, and I see nothing but suffering, 



SOXGS IN THE NIGHT. 197 

wasting, sadness, loneliness, misery, dread. I 
look again, through the medium of eternity, 
and the scene changes. Disease is not a destroyer , 
but God's servant, sent to take down the old 
tabernacle. Death is not an officer of vengeance, 
but God's servant, sent to move the tenant from 
the tabernacle to the mansion. That sick bed 
is not a couch of languishing, so much as the 
soul's dressing-chamber, where it is being ar- 
rayed for the feast of glory. Never did a bride 
adorn herself with more delight for the bridal, 
than that soul for the coming of heaven's Bride- 
groom. " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." 

Bereavements rob our hearts, and songs over 
graves where repose our hearts' idols, are the 
most difficult. A loving nature can give up 
property, if wife and children are spared ; can 
suffer disease and affliction, if loved ones are 
present to nurse and cheer; but oh, how 
the grave saddens and envelopes the soul in 
darkness ! 

There is a faith, however, that transforms the 
grave. Look at it without faith in Christ, the 
soul's immortality and the body's resurrection, 
and it is the abode of corruption. Look at it 
from heavenly mansions, and it is only the 



198 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

monumental battle-field where the last great 
victory was won. 

3. There can be victory over anxiety. — Once 
let the promises of God settle into your hearts, 
and you become assured of the Divine care ; and 
then away will fly your fears, like mists before 
the rising sun. If God cares for the blooming 
lilies and singing birds, will He not care for 
you, "O, ye of little faith !"* Can't you trust 
God with the future? Why should you be 
anxious to know what is coming? Can't you 
leave that to God? You have His promise; is 
not that enough? 

O, cease your weary flights of anxiety into 
the future, troubled soul! Fold your wings, 
restless imagination ; hush your clamor, ye 
fretful cares, and listen to the voice of God. 
• • I will be thy guide, even unto death." " I will 
never leave thee nor forsake thee." "I will go 
before thee and make all thy crooked places 
straight." "All things work together for good 
to them that love God." 

Thus, you see, dear friends, while life has its 
nights, it has also its songs. Triumph, in all 
trials, no difference how dark, and heavy, and 
long, is possible to God's children. Forgive- 



SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 199 

ness is the daybreak of the night of sin. Res- 
ignation the dawn of the night of loss. Trust 
is the sunrise that dispels the mists of anxiety. 

III. The Source of Victory.— " God, 
my Maker, giveth me songs in the night." It 
is not natural to sing in the night — to rejoice in 
trials, to glory in tribulation, and to take joy- 
fully the spoiling of our goods. Hence, the 
author of these songs and the source of this 
victory, is "God, our Maker." He giveth the 
songs. He giveth the victory. "Thanks be to 
God, who giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

God, then, is the composer of songs, and the 
teacher of music. He can make our hearts sing 
for joy. One word of His will set the heart 
ringing with joy like merry Christmas bells. 
God's presence can make any place a Tabor, and 
any scene a transfiguration. 

"'Tis Paradise if Thou art here, 
If Thou depart, 'tis hell ! " 

Let God be absent from the soul, and the 
night shadows gather over life ; then there can 
be no sonnets, no hallelujahs, no psalms of 
praise. Such a night will be songless and star- 



200 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

less. With God present, though the darkness 
may east its mantle over life, the night will be 
full of voices — the brooks with rippling music, 
the rivers with gentle flow, the water-fall with 
ceaseless melody, the ocean with its thundering 
surge; and the stars looking down as so many 
angel-watchers, will make the night sublime, as 
if all nature was engaged in an oratorio for 
your soul. Your waking trouble will enjoy the 
song, while sleeping men will know nothing of 
these high festivities. Let a soul be filled with 
God, and it will sing as sweetly as a seraph. 
The darker the night the sweeter the song. 

There is no trial so great, or night so dark, 
that the believer in Christ cannot hope and sing. 
Sickness has its victors ; death its conquerors ; 
dungeons their songs at midnight ; martyr- fires 
their praises to God. Job, when stripped of all, 
and afflicted, could say, "The Lord gave and 
the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
of the Lord !" Paul could glory in tribulation. 
St. James exhorts us to "count it all joy in di- 
vers temptations or trials." John on Patmos, 
exiled and persecuted, heard heavenly voices 
and beheld heavenly scenes. 

Let the world do its worst ; let persecution 



SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 201 

kindle its fires; let losses come; let sickness 
waste the body; let death approach; if Christ 
is with us, we will sing His praises and joy in 
our God. 

Trials and sorrows cannot be overcome or 
borne with resignation and triumph, in man J s 
own strength. Unless there is a Divine support, 
the soul will sink. You may neglect and forget 
God when you are well aud prosperous, but 
when your soul has nothing to lean on or de- 
light in, how will you battle the necessary trials 
of life then? 

A man may talk infidelity in argument, but 
will keep his tongue at the grave-side of buried 
love and on the bed of death. You may be 
prayerless now, and desire not the prayers of 
God's people, but when no relief comes to your 
physical suffering, and when death and eternity 
are just before you, then you will surrender. 
Your boasted morality will sink into nothing 
and you will cry out to God to save your sinking 
soul: "Save, Lord, or I perish!" 

O, man of the world, learn it now! You 
cannot afford to be Christless ! Your life will 
be without spring or summer ; your trials with- 
out any triumphs ; and your sorrows will have 



202 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

no buds of hope in them — no songs for you out 
of Christ. 

Brethren , " songs in the night" are so rare 
that unbelieving men will listen and inquire, 
and desire the same inspiration and the same 
source of victory. Hence, a happy, cheerful, 
triumphant religion, will win the world to Christ. 
Away with your fears ; silence doubts ; put aside 
sadness. Live in sunshine; dwell in the realm 
of praise, and you will be an argument unbelief 
can't answer; and it will be compelled to say, 
"This is of God!" 

Sinner, Low do you expect to meet the coming 
trials of life? Your nights will be dark, dreary, 
voiceless, starless! I pity you. There is no 
beacon light on the stormy sea — no pilot at the 
helm. Shipwreck is inevitable. Disaster, de- 
feat, and eternal ruin await you. 

Christ is your only hope. Come to Him, 
the great light of the world, and kindle your 
torch at the source of inspiration, and learn to 
sing. Come, O ye captives ; let Christ be your 
deliverer ! Then your harps will be taken from 
the willow, and ye will no longer refuse to sing. 
"The ransomed of the Lord shall return and 
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy 



SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 203 

upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and 
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee 
away." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

"They rest from their labors and their works do follow 
them."— Rev. xiv : 13. 

"My brethren, dearly beloved and longed for. My joy 
and my crown." — Phil, iv: 1. 

"For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are 
not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his 
coming? For ye are our glory and joy." 

—1 THESS. ii: 19, 20. 

What i3 our relation to the Heavenly Company? Have 
we ever helped a soul into light? Have we ever pointed a 
sinner to the Lamb of God ? Will any one rise up and call 
us " Blessed " in that Immortal World? What are we doing, 
to add cities to our sceptre, notes to our song, and stars to 
our crown? Will we be saved ourselves and then wear a 
starless crown throughout all eternity? while it is a pledge 
of our redemption through Christ, it will also remain as an 
everlasting token of our neglect of the souls of men on 
earth. This is your sowing season, my brother. You can't 
expect a harvest unless you sow. Your eternity will be 
graduated by your life here. 



205 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GLORY OF SAVING MEN. 

"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for 
ever and ever." — Daniel xii : 3. 

THIS world, with its pleasures and posses- 
sions, is not the final sphere and ultimate 
reward of an immortal soul. Humanity needs 
to be redeemed. It is a failure. It is bankrupt. 
It is sick. It is in slavery. It is condemned. 
Christ came to reconstruct and reorganize hu- 
manity, and to form a spiritual brotherhood, 
which should exist as God's family in the world 
to come. Every saved soul becomes a partner 
with Christ in this work of redemption. He 
now commissions us as His ambassadors to ex- 
tend His kingdom on earth, by beseeching men 
to be reconciled to God, and enlisting them as 
soldiers in this war against sin. If we share in 
the work, we shall also share in the reward. 
We are "joint-heirs" with Him, and then we 
207 



208 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

are assured in the text that if we "turn many 
to righteousness, we shall shine as the stars for- 
ever and ever." 

Ambition — the desire to be great and happy 
and noble — is a natural and honorable instinct 
of the human soul. An animal may be without 
ambition, but not a man. The immortal long- 
ings and cravings of the soul are evidences of 
the Divine design and grand possibilities of hu- 
man nature. " O, to be nothing, to be nothing," 
as we sometimes sing, is a contradiction of all 
our desires, aspirations and hopes. What mean 
all of God's promises of reward and distinction 
in the world to come, if the chief glory of man 
is "to be nothing"? God means we shall be 
something. He bids us aspire. He feeds our 
ambition on promises. He kindles our hopes. 
The noblest power of man is a worthy ambition. 
Without it we would have no brave soldiers, no 
wise statesmen, no self-sacrificing philanthro- 
pists. But there is no arena for greatness like 
the Christian life, no rewards like those of 
Christian activity, and no honors like those of 
the faithful. Earthly statesmanship is foliy 
compared to the wisdom of Christ's disciples. 
Earthly conquerors shall find their wreaths with- 



THE GLORY OF SAVING MEN. 209 

ering when the Christian hero puts on his fade- 
less laurels. The great men of this world, like 
the rich man of the parable, will beg for even 
a drop of the water of life for their parched 
tongues, while saints redeemed shall feast with 
angels and God. 

The greatest work, the grandest employ- 
ment, the noblest ambition, and the highest 
reward, is that of saving souls — turning men 
to righteousness. Christ so esteemed it. He 
laid aside the glory He had with the Father — 
left the palace of angels and of God, came to 
our earth, assumed human form, entered into 
human conditions and relations, made Himself 
of no reputation — endured the cross, despised 
the shame — became obedient unto death, "for 
the joy that was set before himP He con- 
sidered no price too great, no suffering too 
severe, no offering too magnanimous, for the 
redemption of man. He went man's security, 
paid the last farthing — the full amount — and 
now sits at the right hand of God on high, the 
King eternal. 

If Christ so valued this work of saving souls, 
surely we ought to ; especially when we consider 
the inducements offered to the faithful in God's 
14 



210 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

word. Let us, therefore, consider the Glory 
of Soul-saying as a theme for our reflection 
and profit. 

I. Let us Notice the Work to be Done. 
"Turning men to righteousness" This implies 
that men are disposed to unrighteousness, and 
have their faces away from God, and that they 
must be converted, or turned around, and di- 
rected in the heavenly pathway. How few of 
earth's busy and pleasure-seeking men and wo- 
men have their faces Zionward ! How fasci- 
nated by the song and enslaved by the cares of 
this world ! Their backs on heaven — their 
steps tending toward hell. The Christian is 
commissioned to interpose, and to "turn them 
to righteousness."' 

This is no small work. The task is difficult. 
It requires wisdom and skill, reliance upon God, 
and acquaintance with His word. Men are not 
disposed to righteousness. The tendency of 
human nature is away from God. Men endeavor 
to forget God, and it is easy for human nature to 
drift with the current of depraved appetites, and 
desires, and passions. We meet with many obsta- 
cles in the work. Conscience is biased, sensibility 
is asleep — the judgment is under the control of 



THE GLORY OF SAVING MEN. 211 

self-interest and the animal nature, and the 
will is in rebellion; the prodigal, in the far 
country must be brought home. How can it 

BE DONE? 

The attention is to be secured. Somehow, 
amid the busy concerns and eager pursuits and 
fascinating pleasures of life, we must arrest the 
attention of the giddy, blinded, and insatiate 
throng on the highway to ruin. Then their 
consciences must be enlightened. They have 
reasoned themselves into self-justification, and 
realize not the enormity of their guilt. The 
light of Divine truth, the power of a saintly 
life, and the influence of the Holy Ghost, must 
awake their slumbering consciences, so that they 
may see their danger and feel their guilt. Then 
sensibility must be touched and awakened out of 
its sleep. Holy emotions, heavenly desires, and 
godly sorrow, have all slumbered, and somehow 
you are to touch the heart and awake these finer 
chords of feeling to melody. The will, that 
sovereign power in man, must be influenced by 
motives, so that when judgment commands, it 
can obey. To capture a soul requires more skill 
than besieging a city. " The strong man armed 
must be overcome," the power of Satan broken, 



212 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

and the captive soul set at liberty. Hence you 
see the difficulty of the work. 

Were it not for that supernatural and super- 
human agency, the Holy Ghost, who convinceth 
of sin, enlighteneth the understanding, and re- 
neweth the soul, we should give up this work in 
despair. 

II. How Can we do this Work on a 
Large Scale ? — Not save one here and there, 
but turn "many to righteousness." We 
talk of endeavoring to save "" one soul" — of 
saving our own families ; why not enter into the 
broad calculation of the text, and endeavor to 
turn many to righteousness? The text suggests 
it is possible; then how can we do it? 

1. We must be assured of our own salvation. 
How can a man who has never realized God's 
love in his own soul, and w T ho has never been 
assured of his own salvation by the indwelling 
Spirit, point others to the Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sins of the world ? A guide 
must be acquainted with the journey by personal 
knowledge before he can safely direct the foot- 
steps of others. The assurance of salvation and 
realization of forgiveness are essential conditions 
of Christian work. The very first impulse of 



THE GLORY OF SAVING MEN. 213 

a converted soul is to bring others to like joy. 
"Come thou with us and we will do thee good/' 
etc. And if there is not this strong desire to 
redeem others, the fact of conversion is ques- 
tionable ; one of its chief fruits or evidences is 
wanting. What would you think of that man 
who escapes from yonder sinking ship in the 
life-boat, and who leaves a wife and child on 
board, and as soon as he touches shore, says, 
"Thank God, I am safe ! I hope the others 
will get ashore/' but does nothing for their res- 
cue ? You are ready to call him a coward and 
a villain. Yet he is a picture of the majority 
of professing Christians, who meet to thank 
God- they are saved, and to pity poor sinners, 
but who actually do nothing for their salvation. 
The love of God cannot burn in those hearts, or 
the sense of forgiveness be very strong, who idle 
away precious time, and neglect the precious souls 
of men, and who are not willing to make sac- 
rifices of time and ease and money, for the sake 
of humanity. When this desire to save men is 
not the master passion, when worldly interests 
and pleasures absorb the best energies — then 
you may know how much that man loves Christ 
or values souls. The difficulty lies just here: 



214 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

salvation is a theory, and not an experimental 
fact with too many. 

2. We must not only be assured of our own 
salvation, but also consecrate ourselves entirely to 
God's service. The service of most Christians 
is partial. Sabbath they give to God, and six 
days seek their own interest. They live two 
lives, as they think, a religious and a secular 
life. In a word, the theory is prevalent that 
religion is an ornament — something that is put 
on, and not an inseparable quality of man- 
hood. We have talked so much about imputed 
righteousness that we have neglected personal 
righteousness. The Christian life is a unit, and 
a man's business is an essential part of it. The 
little leaven must leaven the whole lump — the 
words, acts, thoughts, motives, family, business, 
and every part of the life. When all these sep- 
arate factors of manhood and parts of the life 
are bound together by the love of Christ, and 
consecrated as a whole upon the altar of Christ- 
ian sacrifice and service, then the man becomes 
a power, and his influence is positive and mighty 
through God in pulling down the strongholds 
of Satan. You remember the fate of Ananias 
and Sapphira, who kept back part of the price. 



THE GLORY OF SAYING MEN. 215 

"Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a 
price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and 
spirits, which are His." 

The absence of power and want of success in 
Christian work lies in this partial service, and 
in not having the energies of the whole nature 
consecrated to God. If men w r ould only follow 
every business in life as a Divine calling, ever 
remember they are God's stewards, that they 
have but one work, and let the highest motive 
of Christian action, viz. : God's glory, run like 
a'golden thread through all their days and deeds, 
how soon we should see the Bridegroom coming 
to claim His bride. Christ would soon reign 
supreme on the earth. 

3. In order to "turn many to righteousness," 
there must be organized effort. Individuality is 
a power when it is not exclusive. " In. union 
there is strength." A demoralized army, though 
it may have many good patriots in it, cannot do 
the work of an organized corps, where every 
soldier stands in his place and obeys his cap- 
tain's command. Unity and harmony in the 
Christian church are essential conditions of vic- 
tory over the world. God's people must be one, 
and at peace among themselves, before they can 



216 ' PENTECOST IN PEACTICAL LIFE. 

make great inroads upon Satan's kingdom, and 
win great victories for God. 

The advantages of such organized effort 
are many. The strong help the weak, the 
heroic inspire the timid, the cheer of comrade- 
ship and the mysterious power of numbers 
make the despairing hopeful ; confusion of 
action is avoided, and brotherly love is thereby 
engendered. 

4. In order to "turn many to righteousness/' 
our work must take on some permanent form. 
Men die, but works live. Generations pass 
away, but institutions remain. He who would 
perpetuate his work must give it some tangible 
and permanent form. Our colleges, our churches, 
our asylums, our Sabbath-schools, w^ill live when 
we are gone. Wise is that man who organizes 
and starts upon a permanent career a Sabbath- 
school; who is the means of building a new 
church, or who lays the foundation for some 
college or asylum. He puts upon wing an in- 
fluence that will never cease. His work will 
remain for a century, and multiply itself a hun- 
dred-fold. 

These conditions of Christian success w T hich 
I have named, are worthy of your careful 



THE GLORY OF SAYING MEN. 217 

consideration, viz. : Assurance of personal sal- 
vation; complete consecration to God's service; 
organized effort, and giving the work some per- 
manent form. 

III. The Glory of the Reward. — The 
text suggests the idea of gradation or degrees of 
reward. "They that turn many to righteous- 
ness shall shine as the stars forever and ever" 
" As one star differeth from another star in glory, 
so also is the resurrection of the dead." As 
there are stars of different magnitude and bril- 
liancy in the heavens, so there will be a variety 
in the rewards and glories of the heavenly king- 
dom. Some will be rulers over ten cities, and 
others over five. While the Bible teaches that 
heaven is an inheritance which we heir in conse- 
quence of our sonship ; yet it also teaches that 
the capacity to enjoy heaven, and the rewards of 
heaven, depend upon the character of the earthly 
life, the deeds done in the body. 

Heaven — the heritage of God's people which 
Christ purchased with His blood, and whither 
He has gone to prepare a place for those 
who trust Him — is the gift of free grace, and 
the eternal home of the redeemed soul. It 
will be a glorious transition when we exchange 



218 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

earth for heaven, trials for triumph, labors for 
reward, crosses for the crown. Heaven, as a 
place, enraptures our souls, and we rejoice in the 
prospect of the coming glory. But heaven as a 
condition — how we shall appear there — is a sub- 
ject not sufficiently considered. 

If works are rewarded in that world — if our 
" works do follow us" — if fidelity in the earthly 
probation has anything to do with the magni- 
tude of our reward or the glory of our estate in 
the heavenly kingdom, which the Word of God 
certainly teaches — then we ought to be alive to 
our interest while we have the opportunity, and 
sow the seed of an immortal harvest. 

If the good we do here has a relation to the 
glory of the hereafter ; if the trials borne and 
afflictions endured for the Master in the warfare 
have a tendency to swell the songs of victory, 
we can afford to work and to suffer. 

There are two comforting thoughts suggested 
by this point of the text, viz. : our heavenly re- 
ward will be proportionate and permanent 

1. Proportionate. God is just, and will 
see that we lose none of our reward, and He will 
not bestow crowns on unworthy and undeserving 
objects. "For God is not unrighteous, to forget 



THE GLORY OF SAVING MEN. 219 

your work and labor of love/' He keeps a 
"book of remembrance." " According to the 
deeds done in the body," is His standard of 
judgment and measure of reward. "He which 
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and 
be which soweth bountifully shall reap also 
bountifully." " Whatsoever a man soweth that 
shall he also reap." We may suffer here from 
the fraud and injustice and cruelty of men, but 
they cannot touch our reward. No vile hands 
can stain that. No designing foe can affect our 
standing in the society of the redeemed. No- 
thing can rob us of our reward but our own 
unfaithfulness. 

"Turning many to righteousness" will then 
augment your reward in heaven. The souls 
saved through your instrumentality will be stars 
in your crown of rejoicing. O, the joy of 
meeting those in heaven we pointed to Christ on 
earth ! Will they not introduce us to our King, 
saying : " This is the man who first told me of 
Thy dying love, and pointed my faltering steps 
to Thy cross, where my weary load of guilt fell 
off, and I rejoiced in hope of heaven"? Will 
not the deeds of mercy, the acts of kindness, 
the words of comfort, the services of love, and 



220 PENTECOST IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 

the inspiration of character, which, like messen- 
gers of healing and angels of song, thronged 
and cheered the footsteps of lonely pilgrims on 
earth, be remembered as gathered gems from the 
pathway, and treasured as the immortal sou- 
venirs of heaven? Then let us make friends 
for eternity; let us lay up treasures on high, let 
us add stars to our crowns and cities to our 
sceptres. 

2. Permanent. Unless our activities have 
a relation to eternity, and take hold of the spir- 
itual, they will be failures. No difference how 
great our deeds on earth — how they may exalt 
men in worldly positions — the fame of the 
scholar, the heroism of the conqueror, the laurels 
of the soldier — all will wither with time, and 
fade like flower-wreaths, unless they have a re- 
lation to Christ, and enter the realm of the 
spiritual. Man must leave his earthly posses- 
sions ; they cannot enrich him in heaven. His 
worldly fame was the result of worldly deeds, 
and will die with the events which occasioned it. 
His loved ones, if held simply by the tenure of 
affection, and* not by the bond of a spiritual 
brotherhood, will end their companionship with 
the grave. But he who " turns many to right- 



THE GLORY OF SAVING MEN. 221 

eousness, shall shine as the stars forever and 
ever." His relations do not end with time, nor 
his joys fade with death, nor his life close in a 
sad failure; but perpetuated in the world to 
come, amid scenes of delight and companion- 
ships of angels and saints, he will reap in eter- 
nity what was sown on earth, and shine forever 
and ever. The stars of genius and fame and 
wealth on earth will set, and be eclipsed by the 
night of death ; but not so with those who live 
for God and souls. "Their sun shall no more 
go down, neither shall their moon withdraw 
itself; for the Lord shall be their everlasting 
light, and the days of their mourning shall be 
ended." 



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